Forbidden Apple Part Two
by ImagineI
Summary: The bite has been taken. Akihiko and Misaki are in the budding of their relationship- Intensity, Commitment, Passion... But will seeds sown from previous relationships lead to destruction for the pair? How will the two deal with the core of the apple?
1. Hungry

Hello =D This story is the second part of my fanfic 'Forbidden Apple'. If you haven't read the first part, .net/s/5729073/1/Forbidden_Apple_Part_One, then please do ^^. Quite a lot happens in Part One, which will be mentioned and sometimes explained in this part, but um... I'd be happy if you read Part One =)

So, this is part two, chapter one... I hope you enjoy it =) Please review, I'm happy to hear anything constructive. Thank you!!

* * *

Misaki

_Disappointed. Slightly Confused. Reproachful. That was Takahiro's first stage._

_Second stage- after a bit of consolation and a talk from Akihiko- Enthusiastic. Accepting. Compromising._

_Now- third stage. Gone. Leg still broken. Completely and Utterly naïve about the pretty much scandalous relationship his best friend- Akihiko, teacher at my school and critically acclaimed author- and his little brother- me, Misaki Takahashi, student at my school and criticised adolescent are about to… yeuk, I'm actually going to say this… 'embark' on._

The boy sighed.

_It's been four hours since Akihiko drove Takahiro and Manami, his wife, to the airport. _

Misaki, sat in the high back room of the lecture room, rubbed out the eye he'd been trying and failing to sketch as he thought. His dark olive eyes were focused on the page, his chocolate brown hair flopping over his soft-featured face. A wash of regret was swarming through him- he hadn't seen much of his brother this week, aside from in a hospital bed and this morning, all-crutched-up in Akihiko's living room. He began to draw out another line, faintly and steadily.

_Can't stop thinking about the possibility that something has happened. Another… something. Crash. Please no. Takahiro was in one about a week ago. Just like Mum and Dad… except he and his wife survived._

He gulped as he began to trace the iris of the eye on the corner of his exercise book. And then stared wide-eyed at the barely-finished sketch as he realised what he really. Really. Wanted.

Akihiko's arms… around him. To comfort him. To hug away the nightmares… Misaki's teeth gritted and he blushed, violently, recalling the way Akihiko had woken him up this morning, five and a half hours after the start of their slumber-dosed embrace.

"Anyone? Oh, come on, people. It's easy… No? Fine, you useless bunch… I'll pick at random." Misaki didn't hear the teacher.

Akihiko

_Down the hallway, tie tightened, stride quicker, sunglasses off… in pocket... deep breath. Hand through hair. Click neck. Element of cool, Akihiko. Element of cool._

Akihiko Usami, tall and broad-shouldered with a thick head of silver hair, stood outside the lecture room. He'd just arrived at the High School, straight back from dropping Takahiro and his wife to the airport. His nerves had definitely calmed down in one way from his selfless taxi-service- now he knew they were there.

He'd taken a small stop back at his condo and eaten the sandwich Misaki had made him this morning. Now he was here, a file in his hands he needed to give to the teacher in here. He smirked, violet eyes narrowing as he bit the inside corner of his mouth- there was another reason he _needed_ to go in here.

"_A-Akihiko… sensei! Please, I need to get up-"  
"By the feel of things you already a-"  
"Oi! Don't touch me there!" And then a gasp and Misaki was curled, tightly, against Akihiko's solid torso, almost crippled with the tease-treatment Akihiko was setting upon him._

Akihiko's smirk widened, a show of his recollection of this morning's scene. He wondered just how much fun it would be to go in and see Misaki seeing him. A flashing of different possible facial expressions flitted through his head like a flipping picture book. He out-right grinned and knocked on the door.

"…It's pretty much the difference between banks now and banks… well, actually, one of you can tell me. Anyone? Oh, come on, people. It's easy… No? Fine, you useless bunch… I'll pick at random. Er, come in."

Akihiko pushed the door open.

Misaki

_I don't think I want to be here… maybe going to America would have been a better idea? No! Don't be stupid… do what Akihiko said this morning… 'stick to it'. Yes. You've made your choice. No going back. First step in maturity. But if Akihiko starts to touch me like that again…_

The door of the lecture room opened just as Misaki heard the teacher speak out his name.

"Er, come in. Takahashi, Misaki, maybe."

_Oh, God. It'll be a message from the office… shit. Please no, please no, please no…_

Misaki looked up, only to see the ten heads of the other students in here looking back at him. His teacher, Oraichi-sensei, a short man with prickly grey hair on his flat head, was staring at him like he was trying to force something out of him… _He looks like he's trying to lay an egg… oh hold on, I know…_ An answer, perhaps?

"Err-" Misaki stopped as he realised who had come into the room.

"The file you asked for, Oraichi. It's all marked. You were right, it was spot on for what she's capable of."

Oraichi-sensei took the folder from Akihiko, without looking at him. But Misaki was definitely looking at him. _He's safe… Thank you. He's safe, he's safe, he's safe._

Akihiko was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a purple tie, along with black trousers and shoes. The shirt almost seemed invisible to Misaki now he knew the almost mouth-watering physique beneath... Misaki scorned himself as he realised he was swallowing the saliva forming in his mouth upon seeing the man. He focused on the outline of the sunglasses in Akihiko's pocket.

"Come on, Takahashi. I haven't heard a word from you since the beginning of term! Stop staring at Usami-sensei for an answer, boy! His presence should not distract you from this very, _very_ blatant answer." Misaki partially glared at Akihiko as the man turned his head profile and clenched his jaw- _suppressing a fucking smile, I bet. Bastard. I'll show him I'm not 'distracted by his presence'_. But the answer was not 'blatant' to Misaki. He ogled the board, sure his expression was the same as he had just seen on his teacher's face.

"I-I don't kn-"

"You weren't paying attention, Takahashi. Ten minutes detention… though I don't know where you'll take it…" Misaki listened and watched with defeat as Oraichi-sensei prolonged his sentence, as an obvious call-for-a-favour to his fellow present colleague. Usami-sensei. _What was I in a past life? A weed, maybe… that's why I keep getting thrown all these annoying, annoying, coincidental, bullshitty-_

"Takahashi." Akihiko's voice was clipped and cold. _Powerful_…_ argh._

Misaki looked at Akihiko, his eyes partly pleading, partly angry. Misaki didn't even detect a playful pout on Akihiko's face, not a hint of a smug smirk. He looked serious.

"Outside my office, now. Face to the wall, no moving, ten minutes. You know the drill."

Misaki had to use every bit of his restraint not to gape at Akihiko or speed down those stairs and begin to hit him. Hard. But he knew he would get in worse trouble if he did either. If he moved now, the pain would be over and done with quicker. He didn't know, however, how long the humiliation was going to stick with him. _Takahiro, fly back. Get me. For God's sake get me._ _I was drunk last night… a little bit… the alcohol affected my decision!_

Grudgingly, Misaki slid his exercise book into his open backpack, slung the bag over his shoulder and walked down the stairs in the centre of the rows of levelled seats. The swooning expressions on the three female members of the class geared him up almost enough to make him retch. He reached the bottom of the stairs, ignoring the giggles and the taunting hiss of,

"Smooth, Taka-baka." The nickname did not help the situation one bit.

Akihiko

_Taka-baka? Taka-bastard… How. Fucking. Dare. He. How foul were these kids? Argh, what I wouldn't give to get up there and strangle that wretch's neck… but I only want Misaki for the moment and for very different purposes. That dick will have to wait. He'll pay._

Misaki passed Akihiko and went through the door behind him. The waft of Misaki's scent, like freshly baked pastry and jasmine oil, rose his anticipation like fuel to a fire.

"Thank you, Usami-sensei." _You're welcome, you over-confident, self-righteous prick… thank you for lending me Misaki._

"No problem at all." Akihiko gave a dutiful, icy glare to the triad of batting eyelids sitting in the front row and went out of the room.  
He could see Misaki was already two metres ahead of him and past the first set of blue doors of this hallway- he wanted to keep his distance for now.

Misaki

Misaki got to the outside of Akihiko's office and turned to the wall, grudgingly consenting. The yellow wall an inch from his nose was… _high-handedly yellow… the kind of yellow that thinks too much of itself._ Eyes almost shut with his glaring, Misaki shrugged off his backpack and put it in front of him, tucking his hands into his green combats. _Should never have gone into his stupid room last night. I knew it would only lead to trouble. He didn't even stand up for me when 'Taka-baka' was hissed out… maybe he didn't hear… or… maybe I'm making a bigger deal than necessary for a stupid nickname…_

Misaki's thoughts muddled into incoherent murmurs as the scent of lavender and smoke- the latter being worryingly more prominent- brushed past him. Out of his pensiveness, Misaki turned his head to his right, wide-eyed… and watched Akihiko walk into his office, not even taking a glance at the him.

_What? Why didn't he look at me? This morning he was all for paying attention to me and now it's like we're just teacher and student again… like nothing's happened… I mean I don't expect him to come hug me, but surely there should be a little bit of biased advantage on the detention-front... like there being no detention, for example. But, hey, wouldn't you be more annoyed if he started to treat you differently?  
_

Misaki looked back at the smug yellow wall and persevered in his glaring. He was struck by the comparison of being here now and being here five days ago, when Usami Akihiko- Lord, Novelist and specialist tutor- first spoke to him… minutes lately he had smacked into the wall next to the man's office whilst gawking at him like some _stupid, over-eager, love-struck, fluffified fangirl… which I am not!_

Even with this ounce of nostalgia, however, Misaki could not budge the sting of the fact that Akihiko had not stood up for him or at least told off whoever had called him a 'Taka-baka'… but had very clearly stated, on his first night in Akihiko's home, that for Takahiro _'…I stood up for him against the assholes at school…'_.

Akihiko

_Time does seem to go at a laughably merciless pace when you're waiting for something, doesn't it? Well, only one more minute to go and I'll bring him in here, explain… maybe I wont explain with words though… hmm…_

It had been four minutes since Akihiko had come into his office. In those two hundred and forty seconds, he had sat in his chair, legs on his desk and his thumb under his teeth- biting the nail.

_Sixty more seconds of patience? No way._

Swiftly swinging his legs down from his desk, Akihiko strode to his door, opened it and leaned against the door-frame. The sight of Misaki, determinedly staring at the wall in front of him, almost made him laugh but he managed to keep as minimal a smile on his face as possible.

"You can come in now, Takahashi." The scowl Misaki directed deliberately past Akihiko's shoulder almost made the man flinch, but he stood still as Misaki picked up his bag and stormed into his office.

"Take a seat." Misaki complied. A tiny bit worried that he might have taken the game too far, Akihiko walked over to his chair and sat opposite Misaki, this time keeping his legs under the desk. "I can't believe you didn't know the answer, Misaki. It was so obvious!" Akihiko jested in an attempt to brighten the situation. The joke didn't seem to get the desired response however. Face shadowed due to the large frame of shelving behind Akihiko, Misaki just folded his arms and glowered down at the floor, which was littered with unmarked papers and open books.

_I've hurt him… damn…_ Gritting his teeth, Akihiko sighed. Then, he stood up and walked round to Misaki, bending down on one knee and trying to look directly into his eyes. The emotion in Misaki's eyes was one of hurt and it did not surprise Akihiko as much as it ought have that this hurt him in favour. His heart was swelling a little bit with each beat as he looked at the boy- he was entranced with his every motion. His arms were hungry for him again, lips tingling with want.

"Misaki…" Akihiko said, in a low voice. "I wanted to ask you in here anyway… I wanted to see you… wanted to-"

Misaki

_No, do not look at him, do not look at him. Don't pay attention to that voice when you should be thinking of Takahiro- how is he, I wonder, in that cast… I'm happy Manami is with… lavender, deep, velvet voice…_

"I wanted to ask you in here anyway…" _Don't listen, don't listen, don't listen!_ "I wanted to see you…" _He thinks he's got an automatic booty-call now, doesn't he! Well, I didn't sign up for this, not for what he's expecting, not now, not_- "…wanted to…" Misaki managed to swerve away before Akihiko's lips could press against his own.

"No!" Misaki cried, still sat on his seat but as far away as he could be from the still kneeling man. "You can't just expect this of me! It's like all you want me for is this! First this morning, waking up-"

"You didn't seem to mind it so-"

"How could I have! But I'm more than just a booty-call and… Don't smirk at me just because I said 'booty', I can say 'booty'!" Akihiko cocked his head to the side, still smirking. "Stop it! I'm serious! You keep acting like you want to be something serious for me and yet you don't even stand up for me, like you said you did for Takahiro!" _Arrgh! You shouldn't be saying this crap, it's too early, he probably only ever wanted you so he could release his over-active testosterone. But wait, it's not like he hasn't ever stood up for you… he kicked the shit out of that guy who almost crashed into us three days ago… You idiot, Misaki. Ahh, head hurting with the overwhelming intensity of all this, quickly change the subject!_

Misaki swallowed, embarrassed, and caught sight of the familiar expression of boredom on Akihiko's face. Misaki moved himself so he was sitting in the chair normally, staring down at his lap. "H-How is Takahiro?"

Silence. Akihiko was frozen.

Then, fluid and unaffected, Akihiko rose and went back to his chair. No attention to Misaki, he grabbed a nearby cigarette packet, slid one out and put one in his mouth. The focus of his large, amethyst eyes on the end of the cigarette as he lit it awed and aroused Misaki until he shook himself out of it as the man spoke. He inhaled the smoke and spoke without letting any out.

"He's fine." He exhaled, blowing the smoke into Misaki's face. Misaki gagged. "Both he and Manami were a tad stressed about driving the car, I have no idea how Takahiro managed to drive that new car over to the apartment last night… he bought it very quickly, well, Manami must have done. Just like him to deny fear to those he cares for…" _Is this him trying to make me jealous? _

Akihiko inhaled the smoke again and once more blew it out to Misaki, who spluttered again.

"You shouldn't smoke! Especially not in front of a student, set a good example!" Akihiko blew out a laugh along with his vapour, tapping the end of the cigarette and watching the ash fall to the foil, make-shift ashtray on his desk.

"What, because you'd go out and start smoking? Unlikely, you've never done anything remotely rebellious or dangerous in your life." _That hurt. You bastard. You're just out to taunt and tease me_. Misaki puffed up his chest.

"This isn't about me. You should stop smoking, it's bad for you."

"It's the only thing I can suck on for the moment."

"You pervert! You bloody perver-"

"Oh calm down, you repressed prude," Akihiko interrupted, sourly. "I wasn't talking about down there… your lips will do for now." Misaki was speechless for a moment but, as the bell drilled outside, he managed to find words enough for his exit.

"I've got to go to class." Misaki got up and walked out of the room. Akihiko didn't try to stop him.

Akihiko

_And so it has begun... hmm... he probably has cold feet... but even so..._ Akihiko took one last suck of his cigarette and stubbed it out. He knew the boy was worried about his brother and he had every right to be. But was it possible that so soon Misaki was going off the idea of being with Akihiko- attempting a relationship?

Akihiko leaned his forehead on his index and middle finger, elbow on his desk. He was frustrated with Misaki's blindness to what Akihiko wanted with him and it was certainly more than a booty-call. A part of him was hurt by Misaki's lack of evident thought on past things Akihiko had done for him; accepting him into his home on Takahiro's request after the crash; hanging up those goddamn flash-cards; looking after him when he tried, pathetically, to turn to alcohol._ But mostly, I seduced him and now he's stuck here and he doesn't want to be... I'm already wasting his life... well, no. I'll make it worthwhile for him... but what can I do now?_


	2. South From His Stomach

Hey!! Sorry this update has come so late, haven't had the right mood or time to do this chapter. But. Here it is!! I really hope you enjoy this and review =) REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY!!

_

* * *

_

Misaki

_I feel like I know him. But I've 'known' him for all of a week. Yet, somehow, time seems to have forgotten its cousin: pace. Time is just rushing while pace only seems to grace us with its presence upon situations of great frustration… be it annoyed or sexual._

Misaki sidled out of school with his head hung low. He barely waved to the few people who yelled goodbye to him as he approached the school gates. He felt like an ant. Tiny. Insignificant. He felt enormously guilty for how he behaved towards Akihiko this morning. He had been expecting too much. At the same time, he was still hurt at Akihiko's lack of sensitivity towards what that kid had called him as he had walked the walk of shame to a ten minute detention- _four minutes of which I spent trying to resist Akihiko and standing by my anger._

He was in such a state of melancholy that he didn't properly register the lightness of his right shoulder. Until he looked up. And saw Akihiko standing in front of him, chic purple sunglasses over his deeper violet eyes and Misaki's school satchel in his hand.

Akihiko cleared his throat in a sort of uncomfortable way.

"I… I may not be able to stand up for you in class in front of pricks like that kid, but I can give you a lift." The silver-haired man's voice was cool, almost too unaffected for Misaki to take him seriously. But with his bundle of understanding for the teacher-come-seducer, he saw through the icy façade and saw a genuine want to help him.

Shy, he nodded once after standing there, gormlessly staring up at Akihiko. He detected a faint smile of success on Akihiko's face before he spoke again.

"My car's in the car-park."

Misaki's shoulders raised like an angry cat's and he dug his hands into his pockets.

"I'm not going to follow you to the car-park. Not with. Other people. Around."

Akihiko's arched silver eyebrows raised in disinterested shock before he sighed and yelled, loud enough for everyone around to hear,

"Well, your paper is marked, Takahashi, but it's in my car and I need to get home- it would be much easier for you to come to my car and get it now. Don't be so paranoid, Takahashi-" Akihiko smiled at Misaki's blush and glare- "I won't molest you."

A few girls walked past them, tittering and batting their eyelashes at Akihiko. Akihiko ignored them and turned to walk back through the school gates and past the main building towards the downward ramp that led to the teacher's car-park. Misaki followed, snatching his satchel from Akihiko as the man continued, in a lower voice,

"Much…"

Akihiko

_God I love it when he blushes._

Akihiko could barely contain his victorious smile as he led Misaki to his red sports car, which was conspicuously situated at the far end, in a slot reserved for him. He fished his car keys out of his trouser pocket and caught Misaki staring wide-eyed at the plaque on the wall in front of his car. It read, _Usami, Akihiko- Literature Tutor_.

"You like a man with a plaque, then, eh?" Akihiko teased as he unlocked the passenger-side door and held it open.

"No!" Misaki instantly barked before he donned a fake confused expression. "What does that even mean, anyway?"

Akihiko sighed and walked round to his side of the car as Misaki got into the front seat. Both car doors clamped shut and for a couple of moments, both men sat silently, unmoving.

A lot had happened in this car. A week ago, Akihiko had driven a shocked Misaki to his home and then to the hospital in near Tokyo when his brother had been after a car-crash. A day later, Akihiko had sat outside _Palm_ bar, waiting for a pathetically drunken Misaki to come out. Only seconds later, Akihiko had been stroking his neck in a fairly innocent dominance game. Akihiko had swerved them both out of a car-crash of their own a day after that…

Without a word, Akihiko reversed the car and then revved it up the ramp and out of the school. As they got on the road, Misaki began to speak.

"I'm… well…"

"Sorry for this morning, I know. So am I."

"Would you let me finish my sentence?!"

"It's really much quicker if I do the talking," Akihiko smirked. _Not that I don't find your stuttering extraordinarily cute…_

"Arrogant-"

"I'm sure Takahiro would love to hear your gratitude for my giving you a lift home."

"You… Argh!"

"Sexual frustration is a very sorry experience, I would help you if you would let me…"

Misaki

_Hell I'll let you help me, you… you…_ Misaki nearly choked as he recalled this morning. He had woken up to the feeling of soft lips on the nape of his neck. Strong arms had held him close to something firm and long… upon the realisation that Akihiko was kissing him, he had begun to stir. When he felt his body's response to Akihiko's caresses he had exploded, squirming and kicking as the man's hands had travelled south from his stomach…

"Speechless? Well, I'm certainly on a roll today," Akihiko muttered, smug.

"I'm not speechless!" Misaki growled, glaring at him. They stopped at the traffic lights and Akihiko turned to face Misaki. He inclined his head and looked over his sunglasses, patronising and gleeful. "Stop it!"

Akihiko sighed and smiled as he put the car back into gear- _his hands… why do his hands turn me on? Argh, God I hate this_- speeding towards the car-park for the block of large apartments Akihiko lived in. Before Akihiko got the chance to playfully retort, the car screeched to an almighty halt.

"Baka…" he hissed under his breath.

"Why am I-" Misaki began.

"Not you. We're going for supper." And with that, Akihiko was reversing out of the entrance out the car-park and they were back on the road.

* * *

Welll, here's another message from me! You don't have to read this if you don't want to... I'd be honoured if you did, though ^^ Review if you want to, any constructive criticism is welcome, as is any other useful comment =D What do you guys think will happen in chapter 3? I'd be happy to see what you think...


	3. Gnawed

This chapter is a little different than the other chapters in this part or in Part One. I hope you guys can still enjoy it. Any feedback would be lovely =)

* * *

Akihiko

"What! I have homework to do and I'm in my school uniform, you can't just-"

"Let me treat you."

"No! I mean… not to be rude… I'm grateful, you know… but I was going to make supper."

Akihiko couldn't help but smile at Misaki's bashful words and smiled over at him as he turned round the corner. He smiled more as Misaki's tone turned to one of dry dissatisfaction.

"We don't appear to be going home."

"Do you prefer Italian or Indian?"

"I prefer-"

_Home. He just called my place 'home'. I think I just_-

"Italian it is."

Misaki grumbled something unintelligible as Akihiko parked down a narrow road with tall, grey houses on either side.

Just as Akihiko began to get out of the car, Misaki grabbed his arm and held on tightly to his light blue shirt.

"I… Stop. I want to say something."

Slightly stunned, Akihiko stared wide-eyed at the boy for a moment before he swallowed the sentence he was about to speak and settled back into his seat. He only partially closed the car door. He waited.

Misaki's eyes were focused on the glove compartment in front of him, his brown eyebrows knitted together as he thought hard. He wanted to get this exactly right.

"Misaki are you o-"

"No. My turn to speak."

Akihiko could not help but be slightly turned on by this new bout of decisiveness.

Misaki let go of Akihiko's shirtsleeve and held his hands in his lap in tight fists. Akihiko had to restrain himself from unballing those fists- he could not stand to see the tension and not know what the boy was thinking.

A car whooshed by almost silently, nearly banging off Akihiko's wing-mirror, but he did not care. All he could focus on was Misaki. Misaki the thoughtful. Misaki the lovely. Misaki the boy he had known all of a week.

"Thank you." The words were few, but Akihiko could still hear the emotion behind them. He waited for a couple of seconds, wise to the ways Misaki spoke, waiting for him to say something more. But that was all Misaki had to say.

So touched was he that Akihiko, the Literature Tutor and novelist, could only say this:

"The linguine in this place is excellent. Let me order it for you."

Misaki

_The confusion of this relationship is actually starting to be pretty comfortable. I'm happy. It's like… man, I'm so stupid. It's like some stupid Cherub type thing decided me and this teacher would be a good match, so he put each of us in the other's path. Somehow I know him better than maybe anyone else I've met in my life. It seems the same way for him. The way we talk together, it's like we've been plucked out of some unfilmed romantic comedy_.

Misaki slapped himself at the cheesiness of his thoughts.

"Misaki! Don't slap yourself!" Akihiko pressed. Misaki looked over at him and started as he realised how close Akihiko had come. The worry in the man's purple eyes vanished as Misaki allowed himself to get lost in them. An evil, unnervingly sexy smirk curled on Akihiko's face. "That's my job."

********

"So… how come we came here?"

"I wanted to eat out," Akihiko responded immediately. Misaki blinked at him, opened his mouth to say something and then diplomatically took a sip from his wine-glass. "How's that spritzer?"

"Really good, thank you."

Misaki could feel the watchful glances of the other diners in the red-clad, candle lit restaurant. Akihiko's fame seemed to gnaw on their presence more than some gnawed on their chicken bones.

"Did you… Did you see something or someone you didn't like?"

Akihiko paused in his act of putting a square of steak into his mouth, sighed and rested his fork on his plate. Misaki twiddled his fork in his pasta, trying to put on the same disinterested look Akihiko did. He was, of course, very interested. But he didn't want to show it. Not yet.

"You know I write books," Akihiko said. Not thinking of the harmless smut he also wrote, Misaki nodded, thinking of the masterpieces others had spoken of- he had shamefully not read them himself.

"Yes." Sensing Misaki was unaware of the books he was speaking about, Akihiko licked his lower lip and narrowed his eyes.

"Books…" he repeated. Misaki caught on and lowered his eyebrows considerably.

"I am. Aware."

"Well, there's a certain journalist who wants to interview me about them."

"Why don't you want to see her?"

"Him."

"Why don't you want to see _him_?"

"He's not the kind of journalist I want to speak with."

"Why not?"

Akihiko smiled, sadly and lifted his wine glass, turning his head to the side and taking an elegant sip of his red wine. Swallowing, he looked back at Misaki and said, in a low and seductive tone,

"Because my interest is only focused on the boy eating linguine opposite me."

Trying very hard not to show his flattered-response to this, Misaki picked a prawn out of his food and chewed on it, thoughtfully, eyes wide.

_This doesn't feel wrong… eating a prawn in a restaurant with him doesn't feel wrong. It feels really right_.

Akihiko breathed a laugh and nodded towards the unfinished prawn.

"How's the shellfish?"

Instinctively, Misaki cut the remainder of the prawn in two and offered it to Akihiko, hoping he would take it from his fingers.

_With his fingers, godammit!_

Akihiko leaned forward and delicately bit the prawn from Misaki's index-finger and thumb, looking deeply into the boy's eyes as he did so. Misaki blushed and blinked, quickly.

"Delicious." Just as Misaki was about to hiss something back to the man to show his embarrassment, a woman came over. She was pale skinned, with big light-green eyes and a neat brown-haired bun. Her skirt-suit was beige, with a dark pink shirt under the suit-jacket and her black high heels were a little scruffy at the front.

Misaki looked up at the woman, who also wore a smug smile on her pretty face, but Akihiko remained staring at Misaki. Determinately.

"Ah, Akihiko. You must introduce me to your latest."

_Latest?_

Akihiko began to glare at Misaki's still outstretched fingers.

"Leave, Ousari."

"Oh, but this is too much fun already." The woman pulled up a chair and stared interestedly at Misaki. Her eyes seemed to pierce his skin.

"A-Akihiko…" Misaki muttered, almost as a cry of help. This woman made him feel threatened.

"Leave," Akihiko repeated, voice near feral.

"Got bored with the last one, did you?"

"Tasaki sent you, didn't he."

"As a matter of fact, he did, yes. He had every right to. You have been ignoring him."

"I don't want to see him," Akihiko said, pulling back and sitting in his chair straight, eyes down on his fork.

_He's going to pick up that fork in a minute. He'll do something he'll regret._

"Ah but he wants to see y… what's this? How sweet." In an act of pure care, Misaki had reached out and put a hand on top of Akihiko's, to stop him. Akihiko's shoulders seemed to fall slightly on this touch.

"Leave."

"Give me what I want."

"I did, you've got it."

"I want some form of… affection."

"Stabbing you with this fork would be affection compared to what else I'm prepared to do."

"You know," Ousari turned her head to Misaki, "You're not the first."

"Pardon…?" Misaki whispered.

"Toy. Playboy. Akihiko gets bored of his toys pretty quickly."

"It's honestly not what you're thinking, Misaki. This woman has holes in her knowledge of what she thinks she knows."

"It's not always lovers, as I'm sure you are..."

"Misaki, don't listen to her."

"There are others... Takahashi, I think his name was..."

"Takahiro..." Misaki breathed. His heart was pounding. He couldn't move.

"He made a deal with this guy about, I think, his little brother-"

"Misaki, ignore her-"

"He's very charming, isn't he, though? I thought so..."

"Misaki, we're leaving." Akihiko stood up and leaned across the table, yanking Misaki from his seat. Swiftly, he pulled Misaki through the restaurant, sticking money in the waistcoat pocket of a passing waiter.

"I trust you told him about the money, Akihiko? Honey-bun!"


	4. Swallowed

So. Here's the next installment. I loved writing this chapter and I really hope you guys like it. Feedback is encouraged as well as any suspicions any of you may have for what may happen next. I have a plan in my head already, but I'm curious ^^. By the way, has anyone noticed my chapter naming process?

Enjoy!!

* * *

Akihiko

_No. No. No._

"Akihiko? What's going on? What was she saying about Takahiro?"

_Why now? Why with Misaki?_

"Akihiko?"

_Just get the car into gear and drive home. Explain… it's only fair to him. He'll leave, though… he won't have anywhere to go. I made a promise to Takahiro! Several…_

"Akihiko!"

"Not now, M-"

"The traffic lights are green…"

Akihiko pressed down on the accelerator, suffocating with the stony silence in the car. In the dark of the car-park to the apartments- the one they'd reversed out of but forty-five minutes before- Akihiko took a deep breath.

_My first lucky break and this has to happen. Doubtless he'll ask questions. Best to get it over and done with now instead of… but if he's gone… I'll want a memory. I'll kill myself slowly without a memory of truly being with him…_

"Let's get inside," was all he said.

Misaki

_Standing next to him in this elevator is painful. Actually painful. It was so much easier when he was elusive, a mysterious tutor in the hallways. This is definitely going too fast._

Misaki and Akihiko both moved as the elevator doors pinged open. Quietly, they moved to the front door, which Akihiko unlocked as Misaki began to pick dry skin from around his thumb inside his pocket. He was nervous. Anxious. Part of him was resentful that someone had come along so soon in their relationship to give them a hurdle. He was sure how big this hurdle would be.

The condo-apartment was cold but neither man took the time to do anything but stare at eachother. Akihiko waited for Misaki to start the questions. Misaki waited for Akihiko to explain, admiring the brown coat Akihiko was wearing. It was unbuttoned and showed a white shirt underneath.

Sensing nothing was going to come out of waiting for the other, Akihiko sighed.

"You better sit down." Misaki complied, sitting rigidly on the edge of the sofa in the same place his brother had been sitting hours prior to now. Misaki looked up into Akihiko's eyes, imploringly.

"What's going on?"

Akihiko stared deep into Misaki's eyes, his arms folded across his broad chest.

"I will never find eyes like yours." The sentence was spoken so calmly that it didn't quite sink into Misaki how poignant Akihiko was being. His eyes had the sad look of a dog about to be abandoned on the side of the road.

Sitting on the edge of the table, Akihiko leaned forward carefully and, ever so gently, planted a kiss on Misaki's forehead.

"In the short time I've known you," he whispered, "I've come to care about you. Very much."

Worried, Misaki didn't move. He waited.

"Ousari, that not so lovely woman you just met," he began, "works for a man called Tasaki. Ousari is a photographer, who takes portraits of the people Tasaki interviews. Tasaki wants to interview me about the 'Junjou' novellas I write but, er… he and I have some history, which he takes much more seriously than he should."

"What history?"

_How is Takahiro involved?_

"Four years ago, Tasaki and I met at a drinks party of Ousari's. I was… in a very depressed state of mind. Head over heels in love with Takahiro." Misaki stiffened slightly. "Ousari was celebrating coming to Japan for the first time since she was very young; she and I knew eachother from a University in England so she invited me to the party. Drunk, I ended up doing one of the most stupid things in my life: I…"

Akihiko

Akihiko held his hands together and hung his head, deflated.

"Aki-ko?" Misaki bent down slightly to see the man's face.

_I love it when he says my name like that…_

"I can't do this."

The sun was beginning to set and the golden and fulvous rays of its descent began to shimmer around the large, open room.

Misaki

_I don't want him to be sad. I want to see that cocky smile of his, anything but this depressed state. Anything._

"Aki-ko?" Misaki repeated. Akihiko looked up and in a split second, he pressed his lips against Misaki's. Before the boy could protest, Akihiko turned his head to the side and deepened the kiss, pushing up every ounce of affection from his body and into the kiss.

He placed a cold hand on Misaki's cheek, revelling in the shiver it elicited from him. Misaki turned limp, hands clenching and unclenching on his lap as he fought with the contradicting thoughts in his mind, unable to resist the overpowering scent of Akihiko. He moaned quietly under his breath as the man began to stroke the tips of his fingers by his left ear. The tingle from his cheek fizzed down the side of his body, shivering over his ribs and making his stomach swoop.

Akihiko pulled back gradually, allowing his hand to fall from Misaki's cheek. Misaki felt his core begin to split in two, like half a magnet inside of him was attracted to something inside Akihiko. He almost felt naked as Akihiko pulled back completely.

It surprised Misaki that he wasn't annoyed at Akihiko's spontaneous move. In fact, he was more annoyed at Akihiko's stopping. He did not move as Akihiko rose from the table, silent as he hung his coat on the coat-hanger and then began to ascend the stairs.

_I really hate it when he stops after doing something so meaningful,_ Misaki thought simply. He waited until he heard Akihiko's office door close and then rose, as though hypnotised, and began to prepare the supper he had had in mind before any of the restaurant events had occurred.

His sight went blurry as he pulled down a frying pan and a pot. In a daze, he poured oil into the frying pan and let it simmer as he chopped up a clove of garlic finely and then added it to the pan. After pouring water into the pot and setting it to boil, he found the Fettuccine he had bought two days before and then got out the octopus and squid, freshly prepared from the supermarket.

As he cooked, a feeling of exhaustion began to plummet through his system. He found it somewhat ironic that all he wanted then was Akihiko- Akihiko the man who was evidently keeping facts about his brother from him- around him, like last night and the night after their near car crash.

_Akihiko chases all the nightmares away._

An hour later, Misaki began to climb the white stairs to the second floor, two white bowls in his hands. He hoped Akihiko would like what he had cooked- prayed that it would calm his nerves. It made his chest sore realising that no matter what Akihiko told him, he would only want the man happy… unless, of course, Akihiko had done something bad against Takahiro, which he sincerely hoped not.

_But after all the love Akihiko professed for my brother to me, surely he wouldn't have done…_

Walking down the narrow landing hallway, Misaki passed his room, unable to stop a small smile at seeing the motionless flashcards hung from his ceiling, passed Akihiko's room and then tapped on Akihiko's office door.

The door opened. Misaki looked in to see Akihiko lying on the blue sofa against the back wall, in the shadows. No lights were turned on, so Misaki left the door open and walked through the streams of butterscotch sunlight to get over to the author.

_Damn artists and their depressions._

"I made you some food…" Misaki said, nervously. Akihiko looked up at him, his arms wrapped around his stomach like he had severe cramps. His violet eyes were large as though he was trying to send Misaki and message mentally. From what Misaki understood from this gaze, Misaki did this:

He pulled up the computer chair, laying his own bowl of food on the floor and twiddled some Fettuccine on a fork, stabbing a bit of prawn as well. Then, heart overwhelmingly coated in pure care for the pained man, he put a hand under the fork and put it by Akihiko's mouth.

He could not hide his satisfaction when Akihiko took the fork in his mouth and slid all of its contents into his mouth. He chewed. Misaki watched. Akihiko swallowed.

"Good?"

Akihiko licked his lower lip and nodded, slowly but enthusiastically. Then he spoke, quietly.

"I slept with Tasaki that night, as a fling. Just to get rid of some tension."

Misaki didn't move before he asked,

"Have you slept with him or anything like since?"

Akihiko shook his head, looking adoringly up at Misaki.

"Then shut up and eat your food."

They ate. Misaki smiled.

Akihiko

_I'll tell him the rest soon. I will. Soon.  
_


	5. Bang Bang Bang

Here's the next bit- writing this was like ripping off a band-aid.. I wanted to do it, but OW for Misaki... *sigh* Comments are welcomed and I hope you guys enjoy =D

* * *

Misaki

The next couple of days passed with relative tranquility, which Misaki both welcomed and feared. The calmness was like a still sea- he knew that at some point another iceberg would come along and who knew if a tempest would accompany it?

Two days after the incident at the restaurant and both men had managed to work around each other with a flexibility that neither had predicted. Misaki made the meals and cleaned the house before and after going to school and it put a smile on his fact to see the satisfaction it brought Akihiko. The satisfied man in question was set to a fairly strict routine of writing and 'calming the hell down', as Misaki liked to call it.

Since their little meeting with Ousari, Akihiko had been on edge. Surprisingly, Misaki hadn't had much experience of Akihiko in the mornings aside from the one wake-up call, which had ended with a pleasure-crippled Misaki and a smug Akihiko. Thinking of these intimate moments, Misaki had also realised that Akihiko had barely touched him. Part of him was relieved, but the other was unnerved. And, he admitted quietly to himself, a part of him was a little upset.

Akihiko had secrets, secrets he desperately wanted to keep to himself. But he knew that sooner or later Misaki would just have to know them- it would be illogical and unjust not to reveal to him what had to be revealed.

On the afternoon of the second day after Akihiko had told Misaki of his sleeping with Tasaki, Misaki was beginning to get a little worried. He was worried because Akihiko wasn't holding him or smiling at him like he used to. He was worried that he was worried about that.

As he walked out of the school gates on the third afternoon, he half expected to see the red sports car waiting for him. But no. Akihiko had not given Misaki a lift to school and nor had he picked him up, for two straight days.

Resigned, Misaki walked towards the tram stop down the road. He listened to the chirping of the birds in the trees and began to relax slightly as the sun winked behind the branches of the tall trees on either side of him.

Just as he reached the stop, however, he tensed again as someone called out his name.

"Takahashi, Misaki?"

Misaki turned in the direction of the voice and focused on a smiling man of about his height with attractively floppy black hair, low shaped eyebrows and very dark blue eyes. He was dressed in a fitted beige suit with a white shirt underneath the buttoned coat that had its top buttons undone. His brown shoes were polished profusely and his stature was lean and bony.

"Yes…?" Misaki replied, hitching his schoolbag higher on his shoulder.

"You're Misaki?" Misaki nodded, a little worse for wear.

"Ah, then I'm sure you're about to go home to Akihiko." The man's assumption lit a string inside Misaki. He didn't know what to say. The man seemed to know this because he continued to speak. "I'll give you a lift, if you like?"

"Um, no, thank you though. I'd rather take the tram."

"You'll get home sooner if you come with me…"

"Really, I'm alright."

The man took a hold of Misaki's free upper arm, squeezing slightly. His smile remained, but his voice got lower.

"Come with me."

A little scared now, Misaki pulled back and stared wide-eyed at the man.

"Who are you?"

The man sighed and hung his head. Then, after the pause, he raised his head once more and answered.

"Ono, Tasaki."

_Tasaki…_

Akihiko

_Inspiration. A muse. Well damn, you're better stop thinking you can use Misaki as one. He's practically gone already._

Akihiko tapped his finger on the same key on the keyboard consistently as he thought. He glanced up at the clock on the wall, eyes sore from looking at the computer screen for so long and a cigarette that was nearly completely burnt out in his mouth.

_You've got to get this pain over and done with! Tell him tonight… as soon as he gets home… and book a hotel room for yourself in case he doesn't want to be in the same room as you. He can stay here while you're away…_

The clock said that Misaki had been out of school for ten minutes. Would he have time to go and collect him now? Or would he already be on the tram? Hm. Well, it was more worth going to see instead on sitting here getting partially blind on the garish artificial light of his computer. The chances were extremely low that he would get anything of good quality written in the same space of time.

A mission clear in mind, Akihiko rose from his chair and swooped across the landing and down the stairs, picking his car keys up from the open drawer by the door- open because he had been rummaging through it earlier on- and unhooked his coat from the hanger.

Too impatient to wait for and take the elevator, he sped down the five flights of stairs that led down to the owners' car-park and pressed the button on his car keys. The backlights of his red sports car flashed orange at the end of row of cars in the dark car-park as he walked towards it and in less than a minute, he was in and digging the gear-stick into reverse.

It took him longer than he would have liked to get to the school. Normally, he wouldn't go into school on a Wednesday. Just as he turned the corner into the long road that, on one side, was mostly taken up with the school, he caught sight of Misaki.

He looked scared. It took Akihiko an instant to see why; standing opposite him was the back of the man he had hoped he would never see again. In all truth, he thought he had seen the back of him, figuratively speaking, but here Tasaki was. And he was scaring his muse, his care. His Misaki.

All intention on scaring the living crap out of the arrogant, slimy journalist, Akihiko screeched onto the curve making a few people jump back on the pavement. There were about five people standing on the road, some at the tram stop and some coming down the road from the school. Turning the car off, he pocketed the car keys and in the same motion, slid out of the car, slamming the door as he moved to stand opposite Tasaki.

Misaki

_Akihiko. God. I'm so happy to see him._

"Stand back, Ono," Akihiko growled.

_I've seen him like this before… when he beat up that guy who almost crashed into us. I don't want Akihiko hurt, though…_

"Ahh, and here was me thinking we were on a first-name basis. Shame, _Usami_… we did have ever such a good t-"

"Shut your mouth and move away." Akihiko inclined his head and narrowed his eyes, which now resembled fierce purplish bruises instead of their normal crystalline floral style.

"Oh…" Tasaki feigned mock disappointment, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the smirk that cursed his sharp-featured face. "Come on, play nice."

"Get away from Misaki."

"Or what?" Tasaki gambled, although he did, thankfully, turn away from the boy. Misaki sighed a little and leaned against the metal-twined fence behind him, looking from Akihiko to Tasaki, judging the situation.

The few people who had stopped to stare had grown. The famous Usami Akihiko was, apparently, about to get into a brawl. Who wouldn't stop their chores to come watch?

_Akihiko would beat this guy in a second… and I'm actually kind of proud of that. But I don't want Akihiko's job risked because of me. I have to stop this…_

"Or there _will_ be Hell to pay," Akihiko replied and Misaki noticed that the man had balled his hands into fists in the pockets of his long black coat.

"Akihi… _Usami_. I think I have a little bit more to use against you than you do for me." Akihiko's expression didn't change one bit.

"Go."

"No." Akihiko's jaw clenched and he moved his knee- Misaki knew that if he didn't move now, Tasaki would be done for; Akihiko was lightning fast and merciless.

"Akihiko!" Akihiko's upper lip twitched in anger toward Tasaki but he turned to the boy nonetheless. Misaki begged him with his eyes. "Let's just go."

A murmur waved around the twenty people circling the three of them. Tasaki gave a watchful glance to all of them.

"That's right, _Akihiko_." _Oh shit. I just said Akihiko's first name in public. I should have said Usami-sensei._ "Go home and infest this poor boy, this play toy, with more lies. You lie by omission."

Akihiko gave one final glare to Tasaki- a snappy, vicious terrier compared to the powerful royalty of the wolf of Akihiko- and then walked towards the driver side of his car. Misaki hurried behind to the passenger seat, tail ashamedly between his legs and blushing furiously as students and parents watched him get into the same car.

But it wasn't finished. Just as Misaki was about to close his door, shrugging his school bag onto the car floor in front of his seat, Tasaki sent a bullet of information his way.

"So. You haven't told him about the marriage then?" Misaki wasn't the only one struck by this news- the crowd buzzed with adrenaline and gossip. But they weren't paralysed like Misaki.

Tasaki's smirk widened.

"Misaki, close the door. I'll tell you all about i-"

"To my photographer!" Tasaki called, pushing his chest out as he spread out his arms to his audience. Tasaki- the ringleader to the circus of hurt. "That's right- Usami Akihiko is married to Ousari Bo."

_Bang. Bang. Bang. Each bullet shoots, painfully logical. I should have seen it. Akihiko was too good to be true. I knew it. He'll tell them all about Akihiko and I now._

But Relief paid a small and late visit to him then as Tasaki sent one last smirk to Akihiko and backed out of the crowd of people and walked away.

Akihiko leaned across Misaki and closed his door and veered away from the curb calmly before slamming down the accelerator.

_Speeding away from truth is becoming too much of a habit for me._


	6. TShirt And Shirt

A lot I could hint but I won't... I hope I did the couple proud and would love some feedback... Please read chapter in its entirety...

* * *

Misaki

It was an awkward moment.

Misaki followed Akihiko into the apartment, but it was like his body wanted to do one thing and his brain another. His brain was telling him to run, to get out of there right then and there. But there must have been a tiny little thought, almost completely muted at the back of his mind, which was pushing his legs forward.

Swiftly, Akihiko dumped the car-keys in the still open drawer, closing it as he did so this time. Without looking at Misaki, he moved behind the kitchen counter.

"Would you like some tea?"

_He's not affected by it at all._

Misaki stared at him, unwelcome tears flooding his eyes. They spilled down his cheeks as he looked incredulously at Akihiko. Akihiko's eyes widened, his irises decreasing in size.

"Misaki-" Akihiko began.

"You… You wanted to start a relationship with me. You're married. When, exactly, were you going to tell me?" Misaki's voice was scarily quiet but Akihiko heard every word. The man began to reply but Misaki cut him off once more. "You act like you're all serious about me and you run headlong into this thing, hugging me and-and kissing me…" Misaki winced and wrinkled his nose, disgusted with himself. "I followed you like a blind man…"

"It's so early for us, Misaki, I wanted to tell you when we were more solid-"

"But we're solid enough to embrace and sleep in the same bed…" Misaki whispered. He was stuck to the spot. Only his mouth and tears moved.

"I don't love Ousari!" Akihiko cried it out like it balanced the fact.

"You don't love her but you married her." Misaki's tone was bitter.

_Hurt, Akihiko. Hurt like I do._

"I can explain it all," Akihiko said, taking a step from behind the kitchen counter. Misaki moved then and quickly, taking a rapid couple of steps back.

"Don't come near me. I just want answers."

Eyebrows sorrowfully knitted together, Akihiko swallowed. He put both his hands on the counter in front of him and gave a small nod.

"Ask away…"

Akihiko

_No one has made me into such a worried mess but this boy. And my mother. Once. But all I want to do is make him stop crying. This feeling, this heavy emotion is punching through every nerve inside me. Him happy. That's my only desire. I've never felt so potently…_

"When did you marry her?"

"Four years ago."

"The same time you slept with Tasaki," Misaki deduced.

"Yes and because of it." Misaki questioned him with his dark, grassy-green eyes. "I slept with Tasaki and then pretty soon after made it very clear I didn't want to be with him. Sexually. I was happy to be friends. He was not. By then, I had published my first book- a normal one… I publish the other ones under a different name…"

"Keep going."

Akihiko took a deep breath.

"He threatened to have it published that I was gay. Ousari knew about our one-night-stand and stood by him as a witness. I didn't want that information known to the world but not because of the jeopardy it would do to my career. Takahiro knowing that about me… well, it wouldn't be long until he guessed my feelings for him. If he knew or had known then my affection towards him… well, he'd interpret it as more than just an intense friendship."

"So…"

"Ousari managed to keep Tasaki quiet but she blackmailed me. She said that only if I married her would she make sure Tasaki was silent."

"That's ridiculo-"

"In order to stay in the country so soon after her first visit back, Ousari needed a green card. You can get these cards in a whole variety of ways. But she demanded that one."

Misaki seemed to be a little stumped for words. After a moment, he found his voice again.

"Did Ousari know about how you felt for Takahiro?"

Akihiko nodded.

Misaki sniffed and looked down at his shoes.

Misaki

_To potentially protect Takahiro from upset, he married someone else… so… he did a good thing… in a way…_

Akihiko took a deep, steadying breath.

"I understand if you want to leave. I only ask that you let me leave instead."

"I don't understand why," Misaki said, quietly.

Both

"Why…"

"Why you're still behind that counter. I mean… you were the one telling me I should keep to my convictions and all so-"

Akihiko was already in front of him. He cupped Misaki's face in his hands like it was a precious, priceless ornament and placed a fragile kiss on his frozen lips.

Misaki thawed, instantly relaxing under the man's touch. He felt his conflictions with his feelings blow away, felt the golden sunlight that was oozing through the large windows merge into their kiss, which deepened as their bodies drew nearer.

Neither took oxygen seriously for those moments, their only concern the one opposite them, confusing their standards and winding up their fears of solitary in a world they both knew they never agreed with. It was univertic, whole, a consuming and passionate agreement signed with the kiss that would, maybe unknown to them, officiate and define the rest of their lives. Huge? Yes. Incomprehensible? Yes. Overstated? No.

What had been rushed and spontaneous before had been pierced and what flowed through now was raw, so raw that Misaki felt his hands almost burn with the adrenaline running through his veins and coiling around his bones.

Akihiko clenched his jaw and pulled back. Misaki's eyes stayed closed. He didn't move his hands from the sides of Akihiko's face and he did not rebel as Akihiko leaned forward and rolled a kiss into his cheek.

So overwhelmed was he that Misaki stumbled as he was pushed back onto the long sofa behind him. Scared at the promise and the commitment involved in letting Akihiko so close, he opened his mouth to defy the man's actions. But the meeting of their lips closed off the topic of 'no'.

Akihiko's large hand stroked down Misaki's leg as he held himself over the boy, who even at this stage was quivering. Hands cold and clammy around the back of Akihiko's neck, Misaki swallowed hard, chest rising hard and fast. Akihiko looked into his shocked green eyes and vowed with his own amethyst ones that he would not hurt him… that it would be a time to finally release emotions that had been pent up too long. Misaki blushed but allowed Akihiko to trail kisses down his throat as Akihiko's free hand began to smooth over the skin under Misaki's t-shirt.

"You," Akihiko whispered, voice full with lust and love, "I love _you_."

Misaki could only listen, could only tremble. No words formed on his wet tongue- he could only concentrate on breathing for he knew if he did not then he would die… but in Akihiko's arms would that be such an undesirable completion?

The hand that had been stroking down his trouser leg now stroked upwards and before Misaki knew it, his leg was hitched over Akihiko's hip. And then Misaki's torso was raised from the sofa for a moment as Akihiko slid Misaki's t-shirt off. He was rested back down, Akihiko's other hand running through Misaki's hot hair, index finger tracing behind Misaki's ear and down the back of his neck. His discarded t-shirt, on the floor, and all the other surroundings blurred away.

His hands shook as they rested on Akihiko's chest. In seconds, the white shirt was also gone and in such quick succession it was as though Misaki's hands had melted it off.

The skin of their bare torsos touching made both man choke a little over a small breath. Misaki shivered as he regained relatively normal breaths again- though they still fluttered against Akihiko's pale, defined shoulder.

A pause…

And then Akihiko was kissing Misaki once more, his tongue glossing rapidly over Misaki's, their lips moulding against each other's, kindling the rising warmth in both of them.

Both of the men's scents wafted together to create a blooming of dark lavender and the sweetest of dews and this blossoming began to engulf both of their senses.

Akihiko's hand remained in Misaki's hair as the other one skimmed over his sensitive nipples and over the dip of his tummy-button. Misaki's hips instinctively raised as Akihiko teased open Misaki's trouser zip. He tried fruitlessly to ignore the large, hard something that was rubbing against his inner thigh as Akihiko moved his pelvis smoothly back and forth over his.

Misaki's trousers were pulled roughly down and Misaki could not help but be turned on by the way Akihiko had enough strength to hold himself completely off Misaki's body as he took the trousers completely off, dumping them on the t-shirt and shirt.

So Misaki was just in his boxers, vulnerable in his evidently aroused state. Akihiko allowed his eyes to glance at the boxers and found himself even more enticed to give Misaki what he had had coming and coming in all senses of the word.

The sky outside was beginning to gain its nightly navy hue but in the arc of the sky, amber rays of sunlight cascaded down to the setting sun. These colours, blended with Misaki's peachy skin and Akihiko's ashenly pale skin, made the motion of their bodies even more beautiful.

Misaki couldn't stifle his cry of tortured pleasure as Akihiko grinded his hips deeper against Misaki. The friction against his groin seemed to tighten a huge knot in his stomach that made him tense and eager to release the tension.

Akihiko's tongue glided over the roof of Misaki's mouth as he kept his deep grinds consistent and steadily faster. He wanted to enter Misaki just before his peak- he knew this was Misaki's first time and wanted the pleasure to distract him from the initial pain.

Misaki felt different bits of his body twitch and pulse, awakening with Akihiko's every caress. It felt like Akihiko's hands were everywhere- through his hair, over his chest, rubbing his nipples and smoothing over his goose-pimpled skin.

The boy almost suffocated as he held his breath going over a psychological hill of bliss, arching his neck and spine backwards so his body pressed hard into Akihiko's. Observing this reaction made Akihiko harden even more and his whole body shuddered as electric currents spindled through him.

Misaki gasped in a breath, only to gasp a little, eyes wide as Akihiko kissed under his jaw softly and began to rub his cock through his boxers. Misaki's body squirmed involuntarily, Akihiko's rubbing so light and yet at the same time Misaki almost expected his boxers to flicker into flames with the heat created. Waves of frustrated joy were spiralling down from his neck, through his ribs and stomach.

Akihiko's masculinity was getting a whole reboot- he felt dominating but seduced at the same time, strong as his actions made Misaki weak and weak as Misaki scrunched his silver hair tightly in agitation. Misaki's cock, still not unsheathed, was bumping against his muscled stomach every time he ground down.

Akihiko made the aim of his grinding a lot more direct so as to coax Misaki's legs further apart giving him a clear and easy entrance. Akihiko undid his trousers and kicked them off, his large and erect member almost pushing through the fabric of his boxers. He slid them off and nudged them to the ground. Then, covering Misaki's mouth with his own and moving his lips up against Misaki's upper lip and then sucking Misaki's slippery lower lip, he slid his hand under the waistband of Misaki's boxers. Gradually, slowing his hips only a little, he took the boxers completely off.

Misaki gulped silently, closed his eyes and then looked nervously up at Akihiko who was looking down at him in awe. Their legs, hips, stomachs, chests and shoulders were pressed solid against each other. Their hearts were thudding against one another in a synoptic beat.

Akihiko, at that point, just didn't know what to do. He'd never felt so desirous of any man and was shocked at the intensity- Takahiro had never given him this kind of starved hunger. He just had the basic urge to see Misaki writhe in pleasure, pleasure he was conducting.

Strange as it was, Misaki didn't have a single fight going on in his head. The only thing going on with him was a painful and passionate wait for Akihiko's next move. The magnitude of how much he felt for Akihiko, the servitude he was willing to lay down for him, left Misaki guardless and completely and utterly under the Akihiko's thumb.

"Aki-ko," Misaki whispered, gripping the man's bicep in his arm. Akihiko had a faraway look in his lustful eyes that vanished as he saw the yearning in Misaki's.

Resting his forearms on either side of Misaki's head, he held Misaki's face gently still in premature shock. He kept one hand on Misaki's cheek as the other one went under his thigh, pushing it outward and upward. Kissing him passionately, Akihiko began to grind his hips once more. As Akihiko prodded his entrance with his member, Misaki's body began to rise as he breathed out a 'gah' sound.

Taking note of how Misaki's body was responding, Akihiko brushed his lips down the side of the boy's neck, his hand stroking the bottom of Misaki's thigh in rhythm to his rising and encouraging at the same time.

"That's it, Misaki… that's it… I've got you…"

Akihiko's words thrilled Misaki and he couldn't help but moan in response. This continued for a minute or so. Then, when Akihiko sensed that Misaki was ready and dangerously close to the edge, he bit down on Misaki's shoulder. Misaki cried out, his body jerked and Akihiko pushed inside him.

The feeling was tumultuous. Determined to keep Misaki in more pleasure than pain, Akihiko didn't stop but continued to thrust into the constricting hole. His whole body seemed to expand and he inclined his head, silver hair cascading onto Misaki's chest.

Animalistically thrusting onto Akihiko, Misaki lowered his body a little so as to more comfortable. But even as he lay the desperation to be nearer to Akihiko took over. Akihiko was whole new type of air, a whole new necessity that he needed more and more of. He only wished that he could do to Akihiko what Akihiko was doing to him.

Akihiko, pounding into Misaki, was wishing the same thing.


	7. A Silence That Spoke

Ok- I'm sooo sorry for this update coming so long after the last chapter. Just a little warning that there's a little bit of horror in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Please review! =D

* * *

Akihiko

"And a new report on an incident at a high school- which has chosen to be unnamed- where critically acclaimed author and specialist tutor, Usami Akihiko, has been charged with rape on a male student, Takahashi Misaki, ten years his junior.  
"The twenty-eight year old has not yet made a statement, but photographs of the victim, eighteen year old younger brother of highly praised academic Takahashi Takahiro, have been published in many local newspapers."

Akihiko gulped, hands pressed hard on either side of his long, cold nose. His skin was almost shaking with the sweat forming from each tiny pore.

Pictures of Misaki flashed up in a box to the left of the stern-faced, female news reporter. Akihiko could sense the disgust and disapproval in her voice and a tendril of self-contempt slithered down his throat and into his gut. He ran his violet eyes over the fine lines of Misaki's nervous face in the photo. The bar of the school gates ran over his right eye.

_It wasn't rape. He didn't say no. He seemed so happy. I __sensed__ he was happy. Did I mistake that pleasure for pain? Was I too consumed in my own gain to notice tears of agony instead of tears of joy?_

Akihiko just didn't know. All he knew was this:

He had never felt melancholy as poignantly depressing as this.  
He had never known pain so numbing and yet so devilishly present at the same time.  
He had never felt such loss.  
He had never cared less for himself and more for another.

Takahiro had, of course, come over and taken Misaki away as quickly as he could. He hadn't shared any eye contact with the desperate, pleading Akihiko. Akihiko was just the rambling man, with rambling thoughts and the rest of the world, it felt like, was in a silence that spoke their gratitude that nothing more had happened to Misaki.

Akihiko dragged his hands over his stubbly cheeks and chin, grazing his fingers on the unshaved and prickly skin as tears trickled from his eyes.

He reached out with a quivering hand for the cigarette that was leaning over the ashtray in front of him, still smoking… but in a stubborn sort of way, as though it wanted to infiltrate Akihiko's body with its poison faster.

He didn't blink as he sucked on the end of the cigarette, watching the footage of himself leaving the school last Thursday, covering his face with his briefcase and then zooming away in his car. He hadn't even had the courage to fight away the sickeningly excitable reporters.

It was there on the scene on his so-called crime- on that reddish pink long sofa in his living room- that he had sat since Thursday. He barely made the effort to go to the bathroom when he needed to.

The end of the news report caught his attention and for what felt like the billionth time, he picked up the remote control and hit rewind. And watched the report from the beginning again.

Why? To see Misaki's eyes looking out at him. To feel the guilt he deserved to feel. To see the pathetic shadow of himself cower away from the cameras.

Misaki hadn't looked at him since last Wednesday night, when the phone call had come. From Tasaki. How he had found out that Misaki and Akihiko had slept together, he didn't know. But the next thing he knew, camera men was hustling like locusts around the block of apartments, ogling up at Akihiko's condo like he was about to shout out his admittance.

Misaki and Akihiko had sat opposite each other, without saying a single word. Until Misaki announced, sadly, that he was going to bed. The next morning, Misaki went to school alone and Akihiko had gone soon after. But only to see Takahiro taking him away from the school gates.

His editor had started calling his private mobile since then. Every ten minutes. Akihiko hadn't turned it off or on silent- it was one of the few things keeping him from going to the kitchen to cause his body more deliberate damage than this negligence.

The beeping buzz of the mobile kept him awake… long enough so he could rewind and sometimes pause on the montage of Misaki's face.

This was the epoch of his end.

He unstuck the cigarette from his lower lip and held it over his pale forearm. He lowered it and then sank it into his flesh. Leaning his head back, his hissed in through his teeth and revelled in the arduous release.

But such pain, such satisfaction in his own torture, seemed too much of a prize.

And Akihiko didn't deserve a prize.

Akihiko's prize in life had gone… to America.

Head heavy, his noticed his cigarette was no longer in his hand. He looked on the floor, but saw his own reflection in a perfect mirror flooring- when had he gotten that? He wasn't drunk enough to be hallucinating about that.

Then he was looking up, not of his own accord and staring at a pink box tied with purple ribbon. What was in the box? He reached out… but now he was by the door, cigarette back in his mouth and leaning against the wall, speaking into the phone to his… father?

"Darling, you have to put to eggs in the water first!"

_Since when has Dad called me darling?_

"Do it!"

Now he was by the stove holding a pan, gas flames underneath it… but the pan was far too soft to be a pan… no, it was a head. Misaki's head! Oh God! What was he doing? He couldn't stop himself, but he was pushing Misaki's head further towards the hungry flames.

And then Misaki's hair caught fire… Now his ear… No!

_No!_

"No… Misaki…No…" Akihiko wept, still pushing Misaki's head further. Misaki's eyes were wide and emotionless, like a doll's. "No."

_NO!_

With a shock that stung more than a thousand wasp stings, Akihiko woke up. Panting.

He looked hurriedly into his hand, but saw that it was barely visible in the pitch-black room.

He felt something pleasantly heavy stir on his chest and looked down. Misaki, naked and covered in a blanket that covered Akihiko's bare lower body as well, was waking up.

"Aki-ko?"

Akihiko swallowed and licked his bone-dry lips. His heart was thudding in terrorised relief. It had been a nightmare. This was but hours after Akihiko and Misaki had been with each other so intimately for the first time. It was not next Thursday.

"Are you okay?" Misaki mumbled, raising his head from Akihiko. Akihiko gently stroked Misaki's hair, so thankful that it wasn't burning in his palm like it had been seconds earlier, in his nightmare.

"Everything's fine. How do you feel?" Akihiko murmured back as Misaki laid his head back down, his ear hot on Akihiko's pec.

"Happy…" Misaki whispered. His breaths returned to their calm rises and falls that Akihiko recognised as sleep.

_Let him have rest before the storm, Akihiko. The rest.  
_


	8. Dirtier

Yay! Next chapter is here- I was so scared it was going to take me so much longer... but... here it is =D I hope you enjoy it and would love some reviews. Constructive criticism is welcomed!

* * *

Misaki

Misaki woke up with sunlight glistening on his eyelashes. His body ached everywhere, but in that satisfying way that comes after a gratifying workout session.

An uncontrollable, almost subconscious smile was on his face before Akihiko's voice whispered close by his ear and when it did, Misaki's whole body heated up in a tingling cool warmth.

"Good morning, lover."

_Lover? Really? _

Butterscotch and navy images oscillated in Misaki's mind like hundreds of birds' wings; memories of Akihiko's hands gliding over his skin like a hand on a raging sea, of the intoxicating taste of Akihiko's skin as he had kissed him nervously on his cheek and down his neck: under the man's spell.

It made Misaki feel like he was glowing inside, but a stupid embarrassment roared over the happiness.

"Don't say that," he grumbled. Akihiko's almost translucent chest- so pale and yet so well defined in lithe muscle- vibrated with quiet laughter under Misaki's cheek. Misaki, glaring at the muscle of the arm not around his shoulder, sighed.

It was as though they were both in an unpiercable bubble- cliché, he knew, but even so… It was just so peaceful, even with Misaki's embarrassment floating on the filmy edge of it, like a bug or piece of dust.

"What else am I to call you?"

"I have a name!" He barked.

"Mmm…" Akihiko tensed his arm around Misaki's bare shoulder, bringing him closer to his body. Slowly, he hummed into Misaki's ear, making his toes clench in instinctive anticipation. The hum buzzed over Misaki's skin. "Mine?"

"No-" Misaki's reproach was cut short by a nip on his ear. "Oi!"

Akihiko's arm constricted a little tighter as he leaned down and breathed into Misaki's hair. Misaki felt his whole body relax as Akihiko nuzzled his nose slowly and gently into his head.

"Mm…" Akihiko's index finger- the one of the arm Misaki had been glaring at- stroked simply down the centre of Misaki's torso. As it lingered at the bottom of Misaki's stomach, Misaki let out a shaky breath.

"Don't do that…"

"Melting?"

Misaki gritted his teeth and tried to push against Akihiko's chest with his hands. But his attempt was feeble. Akihiko reached over with his other arm and hugged Misaki's body to him.

"Misaki," Akihiko whispered. Misaki froze for a second, stunned at the effect the man's voice had over him with just his name. Eyes wide, he remained rigid with shock and then shook his head, continuing to push against Akihiko.

"Yes! Yes that's my name, now let me go!"

"My Misaki…" Akihiko continued, pretending to be ignorant to Misaki's trials.

"No! Just Misaki. Let me go! I-I need the loo."

"It doesn't feel like that…"

_No! Can't let his hand there… can't… Oh. God. Is that supposed to feel so good? Don't get distracted… come on… loo excuse…_

Finally, Misaki managed to shimmy under Akihiko's arms. He fled. Running up the white stairs, he yelled back,

"You're supposed to be a mature adult! A teacher!"

"Ah, you want to play that game do you?"

"Gah! No!"

Misaki shot into the upstairs loo and banged the door shut. He turned round and leaned against the door, blushing furiously. Catching sight of himself in the mirror above the white sink- one he had spent forty-five minutes scrubbing the other day- he blushed even more.

He shunned the small character of regret inside his chest- it was whining at him for breaking the bubble and not remaining in the safe confines of Akihiko.

_No, I need to have a shower. Oh God, did I just streak up those stairs?_

"He'll be loving that," Misaki hissed under his breath, scowling at his reflection.

Akihiko

Akihiko lay on the sofa, beaming. He let out a hushed chuckle as he clung to the comically cute image in his mind of Misaki speeding up those steps.

_And so furious… God, can he be any more desirable? I'll let him cool off and then see if he wants to play… Lord knows I want to… Cute little butt…_

Akihiko smirked, then lunged off the sofa, picking up his boxers from the floor and slipping them on as he walked- he didn't want to give anyone outside a shock they didn't deserve.

His ego was blazing inside his chest as he poured himself some cold coffee from the jug and took a sip of it.

_Was last night really as amazing as I remember it?_

Memories coated in Misaki's sweet moans shimmered at the forefront of his head. With his eyes closed, he could still recall the unique heat of Misaki's petite body beneath his… rolling hips… writhing…

_Yes, yes it was. Didn't I say 'I Love You', at some point?_

This startled him. But, strangely enough, he didn't feel guilty or ashamed of it. Because he had meant it…

_Getting in deep and loving it, aren't you, Akihiko?_

As Akihiko heard the shower turn on upstairs, the phone started to ring. He licked over his pointy right incisor, deciding whether or not he should answer it.

_Misaki wet and naked in the shower…_

The decision was made. Yawning and scratching the back of his head he strode casually to the stairs. His foot hit the first step as the answer-phone clicked on.

"Akihiko? Akihiko, you better pick up this bloody phone! Have you seen the papers? Tasaki's been gushing some stupid story about you and some kid having an affair. I need you to call me- we need to sort out a conference so you can give a statement against it! Pick up! Pick up, pick up, pick-"

"Would you please stop screeching, Eri."

"Akihiko! Oh thank God! Come on, get ready. We need your stateme-"

"I'm not giving a statement."

"What?" A pause. Then Eri Aikawa, Akihiko's editor, caught on. "Wha… You mean it's true?"

"It's not an affair. It's serious." _Yeah so serious, I'm thinking of hanging up on you right now to go and make sure Misaki didn't hear too much of your stupid answer-phone message._

"Akihiko, you have got to be kidding me… come on, it's a student! Apparently Takahiro's younger brother?"

"Does it really matter who it is? And don't you dare get Takahiro involved."

"You idiot…" she whispered. Then, "Does the school know?"

"What business is it of theirs?"

"You could be imprisoned for this!"

"He's of legal age."

"You could still be imprisoned! Teacher-Student relationships are banned from anything more than their namesake!"

"Then we better make sure no one finds out."

"Akihiko? Don't you dare hang up on-"

The phone clashed down.

_Damn._

The nightmare flooded through his body, making him flinch.

_None of that can happen… what can I do? Who can stop Tasaki?_

The shower upstairs spluttered off upstairs as a name flared behind his eyes.

_Fate- you're even dirtier than I am._


	9. Strutted

Annnnnd here's the next chapter! This one is quite a long one... I hope it doesn't bore any of you! Hope you enjoy and ALL reviews are welcome, as long as they are constructive. Thank you =D

* * *

Tasaki & Ousari

Brrrrrrrrrling. Brrrrrrrrrrrling. Brrrrrrrrrrrling. Brrrrrrrrrrling. Brrrrrrrrrli-

"Hello?"

"Tasaki, you bastard! How could you do something like-"

"Very simply, Ousari. Goodbye-"

"NO, not 'goodbye'. I haven't even started into you, yet."

"Unfortunately, my dear, I'm not into your brand of human, so-"

"Listen, you sadistic punk, I have more on you than you know and God knows you're not the only one with contacts in the press. Now, you can either plug your doorbell back in and then let me in, or I'm speed-dialling 'Tokyo Today' and telling them the little story of the little piggie who sold some very dangerous stuff at a market one day."

Tasaki sighed and held the phone between his ear and shoulder as he tied up his blue dressing gown.

"By all means come in, you beautiful woman."

He hung up and pressed the button that opened his front door. Going into his small, cramped kitchen, he heard the pattering high-heel footsteps of Ousari in the entrance hallway as she stormed into the apartment.

He was taking a sip of his tea as the second front door swung open.

Tasaki sucked the corner of his dry lower lip, staring at the oil painting of a field of daisies that hung at an angle above his copper sink. The whites of the petals looked yellower than they should have, since the light in the kitchen was so dank and muddy. A fly buzzed on top of the broken microwave that sat miserably on the blue tiled work surface.

"Where are you, you scum!" Ousari yelled. She kicked down a small coffee table and let her wet soles sully the front covers of the books and magazines that crumpled to the dusty floor.

"I'm just in the kitchen," he called pleasantly back. "Would you like some tea?"

"Only if it's in a bath I can drown you in," Ousari seethed as she came to the doorway to the kitchen. She leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms over her sky-blue, knee length raincoat. Her milk chocolate brown hair was scraped into an unattractive bun and her usually light green eyes were dark with rage.

Tasaki let his nebulous blue eyes run over her admittedly pretty face- though her cheekbones were a little too high for his taste- and then sighed.

"That's a no, then?"

"What was the point, Tasaki? Neither of them were doing you any harm!"

"You naïve cow. Anything Akihiko does causes me harm," he rasped, punching his index and middle fingers to his heart.

"Get. Over. It. He's over you… then again I doubt he was every under y-"

Tasaki leapt for her, but she jumped to the side and held out her mobile phone.

"One press of this little button and you're over, Tasaki."

Tasaki's unwashed, thin black hair flopped over his eyes as the front of his body leaned against the sliver of mulch-coloured wall next to the doorway. He held the rotting wood of the doorframe and began to hit his head languorously against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Ousari spat.

"If I hit my head enough, I might impair my hearing and then I wont be able to hear you."

"Stop acting like a child."

"Shame… I was going to get you to take the photographs for the interview I was going to get with Akihiko." Ousari stared, incredulously, at him. Her hand was still held up, with her thumb on the speed-dial button. "Oh, don't pretend… you're almost as in love with him as I am."

"If you were in love with him," Ousari replied, voice and lips trembling, "you wouldn't want to cause him so much pain."

"Oh?" Tasaki turned around and folded his bony arms over his boy-like chest, leaning against the side of the fridge. "Then what would I do if I were in love with him?"

"You'd retract your venomous allegations-"

"They're not allegations, they're true."

"Rare for you, but even so… if you don't retract them, both he and that kid Takahashi will be in more pain than they deserve."

Humouring her, Tasaki asked,

"What do I do after that?"

"You go and apologise to Akihiko… who knows, maybe I can manage to persuade him to let you interview him. I am his wife after all."

"Ah, yes… I almost forgot about that."

Ousari put her phone in the inside pocket of her raincoat.

"Are you coming or not?"

Tasaki gritted his teeth and looked an inch away from the smugly superior Ousari. He really did want an interview… and seeing Akihiko… well, that would make him the happiest man on Earth.

He sighed and pushed past Ousari.

"Well, let me just go and put my face on, then," he replied, playing overly gay.

Misaki

"Where are we going, again?" Misaki asked, itching under his eye. Akihiko slid into the driver's seat of the sports-car and slipped his reflective sunglasses from the pocket of his long black coat.

"We're going to have breakfast-"

"I was going to cook-"

"And then I have to do some… business."

"What sort of business?" Misaki asked. Akihiko turned the keys in the ignition and pressed the accelerator, hard.

"The sort of business that will make me look oh-so-important, which will inevitably turn you on." He let go of the steering wheel as they drove up the ramp and pushed his sunglasses on.

"Don't say stuff like that… and it's raining, Aki-ko, what's the effing point of sunglasses!"

"I have photophobia."

"You do not have photoph-"

"How do you know I don't have photophobia?"

"Because- RED LIGHT!"

Akihiko slammed on the break and smirked over at Misaki, who was evidently frustrated.

"Ahh… red light… just enough time for me to-"

"Don't-"

But Akihiko's hand moved so swiftly from Misaki's crotch to his cheek that Misaki had little time to be annoyed- who could be annoyed at being kissed by such silkiness?

The car behind them had only a moment to beep, because next second, Akihiko was pushing into third gear and streaming down the main road. Misaki sat with his arms crossed over his chest, cheeks red.

"You look stupid in those sunglasses," he mumbled.

"And you-" Akihiko countered as he turned a corner- "look like someone who has had some very athletic sex."

"Don't speak like that!"

"We're here!" Akihiko cheered, grinning at Misaki before getting out of the car. Misaki ground his teeth together before also getting out of the car.

A hood suddenly draped over Misaki's head, before a single droplet of rain could splash on him.

"You look like a mini superman," Akihiko smiled down at him. Pushing his arms into the sleeves of the raincoat, Misaki forgot to say thank you. Instead, he said,

"And where's your raincoat?"

"I like the rain."

Misaki started up at Akihiko for a moment, entranced by the way the rain glistened like molten iron on his silver hair.

Then, he blinked and looked forward to see a gaggle of girls huddled outside a bookshop ahead. They were standing with their hands on their hips and chests pushed out, lips pouting and eyes wide. He gritted his teeth.

"You should have something on your head. I don't want you to get wet," Misaki murmured. Akihiko had, thankfully, not yet noticed the girls.

"Why the tone of care all of a sudden?"

"Just… argh!" Standing on his tiptoes, Misaki wrenched up the hood that had been tucked inside the collar of Akihiko's coat. He tipped it over Akihiko's head and then strode forward. "Come on, what restaurant do you want to go to?"

"Umm…" Akihiko laughed. Misaki turned round, about a metre from the girls.

_Oh damn, he looks even sexier with a hood._

Akihiko tucked his hands into his pockets and nodded towards a café next to the bookstore. Misaki groaned inwardly, not loud enough for anyone to hear and then nodded. He practically strutted past the girls, annoyed at himself for being proud at the fact Akihiko was at his heels and not theirs.

They hurried into the shadowy café and sat at a table far from the window. The walls were painted a scarlet red and the chairs and tables were made of a uniform light-brown wood.

Misaki shrugged off the raincoat and hung it on a coat hook near their table. Akihiko handed him his coat and Misaki did the same with it.

"Why did you put that hood on my head?"

_I didn't want those girls to see you. _

"I didn't want you to get wet- if you did, you would catch a cold and then I would have to look after you and then you'd take advantage of that and then I'd probably end up having a cold as well and then I wouldn't be able to do the tests I've been _trying_ to revise for, only a stupidly seductive author hasn't allowed me to concentrate on anything but… him…" _I just said 'stupidly seductive'… 'seductive'… where the hell did that come from?_

Akihiko took off his sunglasses and smirked down at the knife and fork on his side of the round table.

"You'd look after me?" Akihiko asked, quietly. Misaki stared, wide-eyed and mouth open at Akihiko and then picked up the menu from his table and used it to cover his face.

"What are you having?"


	10. Scent Out Of The Aroma

And here's another chapter... goodness, my fingers are a tad tired now. *Deep breath* Really hope you enjoy this chapter and I hope some of you review =)

* * *

Misaki

"Would you _please_ stop rubbing your shoe against my leg?" Misaki hissed. The café was fuller now than it had been a couple of hours before and a waiter behind the till, in a white shirt; black waistcoat; black trousers and polished brown shoes, was eyeing Akihiko's wandering foot.

"So long as you stop looking so delicious." Akihiko highlighted his hunger by licking his lower lip, less than conspicuously.

"Eat your egg."

Akihiko's left eye twitched in glee as he smirked and forked some scrambled egg into his mouth. A man behind him left his table and dropped a newspaper in his seat.

"Finished with that, sir?" Akihiko asked the old man. The white haired civilian looked down at Akihiko with sour eyes, said nothing and left the café abruptly. Akihiko raised his fine eyebrows and reached behind him for the paper.

Taking a sip of his coffee, which he had minutes before donned 'almost as delicious as you, Misaki', he read the front page. He promptly swallowed the coffee with an expression of utmost disgust.

"Aki-ko?" Misaki nudged Akihiko's foot when he did not respond. He noticed how the man licked the point of his incisor tooth.

_What does that mean?_

"We need to g-"

At that moment, Akihiko's mobile started to buzz in his pocket. Misaki lowered his fork to his plate and watched Akihiko fish it out of his trouser pocket.

_Something really horrible is about to happen. God. I'm so torn. _

Akihiko

"Aikawa?"

"Akihiko, Ousari just came to the office. She was saying she needed to see you and then she just left. I think I saw Tasaki in the car with her."

"Do you know where she was going?"

"I assume your apartment-"

Akihiko hung up and watched Misaki for a second.

_Such a gift, after so many bad deeds, Akihiko. Do you deserve him? He said he would look after you… he deserves that like. Am I that?_

Misaki's eyebrows knitted in worry.

"Aki-ko?"

_Yes. I have to be._

Ousari

"Remind me again," Tasaki said as he smartened his navy suit jacket over his purple waistcoat and stiff-collared white shirt.

"It's highly unlikely Akihiko will speak to either of us willingly. But, if we're already in his apartment, he'll have little choice but to listen."

"You obviously don't know Aki-"

"He'll only fight to defend Takahashi." Ousari took the key from her pocket. Taking it from Aikawa's handbag was all too easy- that editor was far too dense when she was being complimented. She stuck the key in the hole and stepped into the brightly lit condo.

"Seems like Akihiko has his own little housemaid now."

"Don't be so quick to judge the kid- you're no better, dressing like you're about to attend a party. You clown."

"Just wanted to look smart," Tasaki spoke slowly, deliberately raking his eyes over Ousari's sparse choice of clothing. "I'm really not one for fuck-me-now high heels, black mini skirts and peasant blouses. Oh, and you missed a little bit behind your right knee as your were shaving."

"My leg won't be the only thing in line for a close shave if you don't watch your mouth- I'm doing you a favour here."

"Oh, please allow me to kiss your feet."

Ousari rolled her eyes.

"Stay here or I press the button."

Tasaki sank into the long pinkish red sofa and began to smarten a pillow.

"Don't worry, babe, I'm right at home here."

Ousari pulled open a couple of drawers by the door, pocketing a few coins before hurrying up the stairs to find more money- she was his wife, after all.

_Don't I deserve it._

She passed a closed door and then went back to it. Opening it, she smelt teenage boy.

_That would be Misaki's room, then…_

She passed the potted plant and then got to Akihiko's room. The talked-about rail-track was snaked around the foot of the king-size bed and stuffed animals adorned the shelves that also held all manners of vintage toys.

Absent-mindedly, she tapped a hung up flag and walked over to the bedside table. Opened the drawer… pushed aside a few papers… found some coins… and then…

_Well, well, well, Akihiko. What have you been up to?_

Tasaki

Tasaki was trying to decipher the scent that was lingering in the air around him. He recognised it and after a moment, he pulled Akihiko's scent out of the aroma… then he realised the smell was sweat.

_Why would there be sweat on this sof-_

"Argh!" He shot up from the sofa and glared down at it. Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out a pair of leather gloves and ran his hands through his newly washed black hair. He rubbed a smudge of ash from the knee of his black trousers.

"Well, I guess all we do now is wait," Ousari said as she hurried down the stairs. She walked over to the wall of windows at the far side of the living area. "Great view…"

"I've just realised I don't need to do what you say…"

"What?"

"Well, you've gotten me into his apartment. We're alone. Not really a lot more I need of you…"

Ousari turned round and gave Tasaki a look of patronising surprise.

"Is that so?"

"Mmhmm."

"One press of this button, sunshine, and I could finish you," Ousari replied, quickly.

Tasaki nodded and walked towards her, slowly. He pulled something black from the inside of his jacket.

Ousari couldn't stop the expression of shock spread on her face.

"Glad to see that grin has been wiped away."

Ousari gulped.

"When did you-"

"You're pretty good at the whole captive-held-hostage thing. Except you didn't observe me very well in my own apartment. Rookie error."

The image of Ousari then, no matter her smart-hooker attire, with the pan-scope of the orangey-pink sky behind her now the rain had past, echoed an Edvard Munch painting.

But the visual, unheard scream reverted to Tasaki as he went to pull the trigger.


	11. Invitation To Obliterate

Four Years Previously

Akihiko

The party was beginning to get rowdier than Akihiko liked. The large dark room was bustling with people around his age, maybe a little younger, whose naivety emanated off them like their adolescent stench. Their stoned, blood-shot eyes glistened under the green and blue strobe lighting. He took a sip of his sugary, aniseed-tasting blue cocktail, head fuzzy with the speed at which he had downed seven or so of them. Takahiro wouldn't have liked a party like this…

A man with eyes blue as the cocktail and attractively gelled black hair sat down on the couch with him.

"What's your poison?"

Akihiko looked down at the guy and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't know the name of it. Just asked for the one with the most intoxicating alcohol level."

"Ah. I see. Not at your happiest, then, I take it?"

Akihiko took a strained breath and gave the man a confused look.

"I'm Tasaki… hoping to work together with Ousari. She's lovely, isn't she," Tasaki smiled. Akihiko bit his tongue.

"Silence speaks volumes…" Tasaki murmured, taking to moment to admire Akihiko's lips. Tasaki gritted his teeth. "I could… make you happy…"

"Subtlety isn't really your game, is it?" Akihiko smirked, observing the black-blue feather in Tasaki's hair and the torn white t-shirt, matched with tartan hot pants.

Tasaki laughed, too loud for Akihiko's liking.

"I deal in the blunt."

Akihiko took a second to fully take the blunt man in before downing his cocktail in one and sticking the pepper-stuffed green olive into Tasaki's open mouth.

Wordlessly, he wandered up the winding staircase in the centre of the room, nodding his head at a few familiar faces and working his way around the line of slim girls waiting to slide down the pole that could only be accessed halfway up the staircase.

He sensed Tasaki follow him up to the landing and into a very small empty room at the very end of the hall. There was a readily open sofa bed and a small square window behind it that gave view to the red-brick of the building next to it. A yellow light from the opposite apartment was the only thing that helped Akihiko to see Tasaki as he closed the door behind him and began to practically worship Akihiko's neck with immature kisses.

Akihiko held back his groan of disappointment and spun on his heel, shoving Tasaki onto the sofa bed. It barely creaked as Akihiko climbed on top of Tasaki and slid down the tartan hot pants. It annoyed Akihiko to see that Tasaki was already fully erect. He looked up to the ceiling and then noticed an abandoned bottle of beer on the chest of drawers next to the bed. He took a swig of it. It was refreshing, bitter and sickening all at the same time.

_If you want something done, do it yourself… but do I even want to do this guy?_

Fifteen minutes later and Tasaki was caressing Akihiko's bare chest. Akihiko's skin crawled- he felt absolutely no attraction towards the stick-insect he'd barely just come in. But he didn't feel up to pushing Tasaki away.

Tasaki, on the other hand, was a love struck pup.

"That was great," he complimented, trying to engage in some eye contact. Akihiko nodded and took another swig from the bottle.

Silence.

"I'm guessing you're not a huge fan of Ousari, then?"

_Oh God, whatever happened to a silent shag?_

"We're more acquaintances than anything else," Akihiko reluctantly replied.

"How come you came, then?" _Because I was imagining you were this guy Takahiro Takahashi the whole time your body struck me. Of course, you mean the party though… Answer, Akihiko._

"Wanted an easy invitation to obliterate a couple of unwanted brain cells."

"Too many memories, then?"

_Actually, the conversation isn't too bad. He's just not my kind of fuck._

"You could say that."

"I have to say, you hold your alcohol extremely well. Misspent youth?"

Akihiko coughed out a little laugh.

"Yeah… lots of practise."

"Parents divorced?"

"Not to my knowledge."

Tasaki let out another overly-enthusiastic laugh.

"Together and happy, then?"

"Not together and I doubt either of them are happy as such. Happy to be out of each other's view, though."

"Ah. So how come you're not a fan of Ousari? She's a wicked photographer."

"True. Even so, I wouldn't condemn the one who killed her. I'd marry them, actually." _Oops, Akihiko- you're a little too drunk now, aren't you? Did you really mean that? Err, __no_.

"Harsh."

"Mmhmm." _Can't even be bothered to come up with the words to retract the idea of my being happy at Ousari's death! She's not that bad. You've had a few good laughs with her._

"Where are you going?" Akihiko had stood up and pulled his jeans up from his ankles. He re-buttoned his white silk shirt and tied up his polished black shoes.

"Home… I've, err…" _Lie._ "Got someone I need to look after."

"Sick aunt?" _Sounds plausible enough._

"Bingo."

"Well, let me give you my number then." Tasaki pulled Akihiko's arm towards him and rolled up the sleeve. He pulled a pen from his tartan hot pants on the floor and wrote a mobile number on Akihiko's forearm, sealed it with a kiss. Then pulled Akihiko down for a mouth-to-mouth kiss. Akihiko let Tasaki to kiss him for an entire minute.

He only wiped his mouth after he closed the door on the polar opposite of Takahiro.


	12. Spilled

Misaki

"Takahiro… Oh… Takahiro's going to see this…" Misaki's head was spinning- he felt like he was going to upchuck and soon. The speed at which Akihiko was driving didn't exactly help.

_I've got myself into more than I can handle. Damn. I shouldn't have let Akihiko near me. You don't mean that… do you? This has gone way to fast… fuck. The bastard for seducing me…_

"What the hell are we going to do!"

"Don't get wound up."

"Wound up! Of course I'm going to be bloody wound up, half of bloody Tokyo thinks I'm some sort of male slut!"

"It doesn't say that. The only thing it says about you is that it's been rumoured you've been visiting me. Nothing about any relationship, so quiet the buzzing in your bonnet."

"It says here that you take boys my age into your apartment monthly!"

"Oh for God's sake. I'm gonna smite that little bugger."

"Well do you?"

Akihiko screeched to a halt at the traffic lights and gave Misaki a dry look.

"To tutor them."

"Like you _tutored_ me?"

Akihiko's shoulders sagged.

"No, Misaki."

Suddenly, only for a split second, it felt like Akihiko and Misaki didn't know each other at all.

_But I don't really know know him… do I… Lord, maybe I am just a slut._

"You're not a slut," Akihiko said, quietly. Misaki realised he'd spoken the last part outloud. Instead of driving down into the car-park, Akihiko pulled into a space on the roadside. "Stay in the car."

Akihiko

Akihiko reached his front door but didn't open it. He heard water running inside and then a drawer closing.

As the door opened in front of him, Akihiko's eyes pierced into Ousari's. She nearly gasped, but instead stood stuck to the spot.

"Oh, Ousari. Are you going to let me in?" Akihiko's voice was weary.

_I don't bloody deserve to be with anyone, considering the mess that's spilled from the past into the present. Misaki… I'm so sorry._

Ousari stood to the side, allowing Akihiko to see Tasaki sitting on the sofa. He had a severely pissed off expression on his face that morphed into an expression of glee once he turned his head to see Akihiko.

A gun was on the table in front of Tasaki.

"So, what's this gathering going to consist of, then? Am I to sleep with you instead this time, Ousari?"

Ousari shook her head.

"Not with her," Tasaki cut in. "Not with anyone." His voice was ragged. He stood up and stumbled towards Akihiko, grabbing the gun and aiming. He got within an inch of Akihiko before Akihiko kneed him in the stomach. Tasaki bent over and stayed in that position, arms around his skeletal torso.

"There's no point in any of this, Tasaki," Akihiko spat. "Grow up and collect some sense."

"Point enough to sleep with me and then cast me aside for some scrawny student. Do you really get your kicks out of such an amateur?" Tasaki spoke to the floor.

"That's really none of your business. It was a mistake to ever let you enter my life, Tasaki. You disgust me, so obsessed with money and power. That's the only reason you slept with me that night. Ousari must've told you of my wealthy heritage."

"She didn't need to." Then, Tasaki started laughing. He fell to his knees, head still bent as the laughter mingled with his sobs. "I already knew about you. I love you for more than the money... I was going to do it, today, you know? What you said you'd marry me for."

"What the hell are you on about?"

"You said that you'd marry whoever killed Ousari."

"Ousari, he's mixing my words. I was very drunk. Trust me, I don't want you dead."

"Nice to know…" Ousari warbled.

"Would've been nice to kill you," Tasaki whispered.

"You're insane."

"You're mine!" Tasaki screeched, jolting up from the floor like a jack-in-the-box. His fingernails were sharp enough to tear through his gloves… Akihiko managed to punch Tasaki in the jaw just as his nails, like shards of glass, scratched over his right eye.

Akihiko couldn't help but cover his eye, shocked at the pain and ugly fighting scheme Tasaki employed.

Misaki

_Stay here, he said. Well, I'm waiting… but he didn't say for how long._

Misaki couldn't help but feel worried. He was biting the skin around his nails so hard that the metallic taste of blood tipped the end of his tongue.

Suddenly, he couldn't stand it any longer.

In a matter of two minutes, he was at the front door of the condo. Akihiko was bent over with something crimson oozing over his hand covering his eye.

_Blood?_

"Misaki, get out of here, call Eri Aikawa and the Police." Akihiko chucked a mobile phone at him and Misaki caught it, just as a manic and cruel scream filled the hallway.

Misaki heard a click, watched Akihiko stand fully upright and suddenly Misaki was slammed against the wall with Akihiko standing in front of him, blocking his vision.

There was a wet, choking noise.

Then silence.

* * *

Okay, I know that some of this, maybe a lot, is quite confusing. But all will be explained. Soon. Please review =)


	13. The Dead Ringleader

Here is a rather long chapter, which hopefully cures any confusion some of you may have. Hope you enjoy and Hope you review =D

* * *

Misaki

A billion words can be said in crisis- words of sympathy or pain, words of anguish and sorrow. To be understood fully in such a time, only one person can speak so as not to confuse further or twist a memory tighter than it can be tightened.

So, Misaki remained silent.

The two other living souls made this decision too and so for countless seconds, the incident was bathed in a motionless, choking peace.

Misaki's eyes bore into the black of the back of Akihiko's coat. He didn't care that it was because he knew Akihiko that he was involved in this chaos. He didn't care that someone had probably just been killed.

He cared who had been killed though. Cared deeply, deeper than he thought he could. Vaults unopened in his body so as to allow space for the desperation he had bottled up so silently.

_Please not him. Please. I'll do anything. I really will._

"We're going to have to clear up this mess, Ousari."

Akihiko

As Akihiko spoke, he felt Misaki's head drop heavily onto the centre of his spine.

"I-I… I was trying to-" Ousari began.

"I know. Just… put that in the sink." Akihiko's voice was scarily serious.

Ousari stood like a statue, aghast with her own actions.

_And to think I was going to call this mess to help stop Tasaki... I was going to go and visit her once Misaki and I had finished breakfast, but once I saw was sewage Tasaki had spilled to the press, it all sort of clicked... well, I didn't call Ousari in the end and she still helped. Hah. Irony._

She remained unmoving, so Akihiko went to go and budge her, but realised something was holding him back, by the sides of his coat. He reached down slowly and put his hands on top of Misaki's gently as he could. Turning around, he released Misaki's tight grip and looked down at the boy.

"It's okay, Misaki. I'm just going to help Ousari and then I'll call Takahiro and he can come get you." Akihiko made sure his voice was as soft as it could be and spoke to the top of Misaki's feathery-brown head.

_I so badly didn't want him to be involved in this shit._

Misaki looked up, incredulous and confused.

"Misaki?"

"You want me to go…?"

"You…" _You want to stay?_ "You have to go. I can't let you get involved in any of-"

"I already am," Misaki interrupted between gritted teeth.

"Stop acting like a kid-" _Stop making this harder- you think I want you to go?_-"and accept it. I promised your brother I'd keep you safe."

Misaki

_Yeah and you've kept me safe. Safer than I would have been had I been with my brother. Takahiro, I love you as a brother, but would you have been able to pinch me from my stupid, albeit it short-lived, binge? No. Then again… I highly doubt… you would have tried to seduce me… at the same time… Argh! DON'T join those kinds of thoughts together in your brain! He's your effing brother!_

"I'm not acting like a kid."

"Yes, you are."

"Look, do you want me around or not?"

"Not for-"

"Ignore the situation, answer the question." Misaki was blushing to such a degree that he could almost feel smoke gushing out of his ears. He wasn't used to being so pushy and he knew his pushing was selfish, but in the most purest way possible, all he knew right then was that he would return to a life he knew he'd always found overly-dull if he didn't fight for his spot in Akihiko's life.

Akihiko seemed a little stunned, but it passed before he gave his definitive answer.

"I don't want you around this."

And then Akihiko turned back around, eyes stony and walked towards Ousari, who had dropped the knife on the floor like it was burning her hand. Akihiko picked it up and put it on the work surface as he spoke.

"Go sit down, Ousari."

Misaki remained pressed up against the wall, heart beating at an annoyingly even pace- shouldn't it be beating wildly? Or was Misaki just so used to these sorts of situations now… and so soon… he was only eighteen… none of this made sense.

"Come and sit down too, Misaki. You have the right to know what happened just as much as I do. We'll call Takahiro afterwards."

Misaki would have turned around and stormed out of that apartment, had his belongings not been inside the condo. He slouched in and slumped into the sofa then nearly jumped out of his skin as he saw the limp body of Tasaki next to the door. Dark blood smeared the purple waistcoat he was wearing and his mouth was partially open, enough for the spittle and blood to slither over his gray bottom lip.

Misaki swallowed and averted his eyes. He was grumpy and shocked, annoyed and sad, scared and yet ready to pile into Akihiko and knock him down like a pile of bricks. And he was definitely not going to look at that body. Stupid Akihiko…

_Bastard. First he wants me here, then he doesn't, then he can't stand me, then he's sleeping with me then-AH. Stop._

Misaki folded his arms and tried to think of a milky blank space. He'd made a decision to make the 'sleeping-with-Akihiko' subject taboo in his mind. He was only going to think about it once he could make an uninterrupted, unbiased judgment on it. Right now wasn't the time to think of Akihiko's soft hands, or his thrillingly encouraging words, or his potent smell, or his muscular body, his-

"Misaki?" Misaki snapped out of his daze and looked up at Akihiko then looked down at his shoes. He realised then, by seeing the black high heels set next to his own sneakers, that he was sitting next to Ousari.

_Ousari: Akihiko's wife_.

Akihiko sat opposite them and leaned over, hands held over his knees.

"So. Ousari. Care to enlighten us?"

"Um…" Ousari's voice shook. Misaki rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. Ousari glared down at him, voice suddenly a lot stronger. "Well, I wanted Tasaki to apologise to you, Aki, so-"

Misaki's eyes flared wide and he clenched his fists.

"Don't call him-"

"Not the time and place for your jealous protectiveness, Misaki," Akihiko smirked, all too smug. "You can pee around me later on."

"YOU BAS-"

"Do you want to hear what happened or not?" Ousari asked, quietly.

Silence.

"Go on," Akihiko invited.

"So, I wanted Tasaki to retract his statement and come and apologise to you, Akihiko. So-"

"You stole my spare key from my oh-so-trusting editor and broke into my home."

Ousari gave him a sly smile.

"Great minds think alike."

"Wouldn't go that far, my dear. Keep going."

"Well… oh, I might as well be honest. I went around here trying to find some money… hard to come by, for me, at the minute and seeing as you are my husband and all…" Akihiko didn't speak, just continued to stare, unimpressed, at her. "Well, I snuck around and then came to your room-"

"Hold on, did you sniff around my room?" Misaki butted in. He had tried to comfortably lean his head on his right hand, so his vision didn't reach to the corpse. But on Ousari's words, his hands darted to squeeze the sofa around him in anger.

"I opened the door and was blown away by the smell of testosterone and overly potent soap powder, pipsqueak."

Misaki only opened his mouth, but Akihiko silenced him with one hard look. His eyes seemed both amused and angry at the same time. It was then that Misaki realised how bloody Akihiko's face had become- he looked like some badly made-up joker.

Wordlessly, Misaki stood up and walked over to the kitchen, deliberately going to long way around so he wouldn't have to pass Tasaki… the dead ringleader…

_Ringleadead… _

He took out a red hand-towel from the white drawer underneath the sink; the half-full bottle of vodka from the fridge. Then, he dampened the towel with vodka and water.

Meanwhile, Ousari had continued her explanation. Misaki was wondering when Akihiko would kick her out.

"Then I got to your room, Akihiko." An educated smile sparkled on her face. "And found something in your drawer."

_What…?_ _Oh God, she found those novels… but she would have known about those anyway, if Tasaki wanted to interview him about them…_

Akihiko

"Oh?" Akihiko pressed.

"A knife…" Ousari's voice was suddenly trembling again and full of remorse.

_Oh God, I should have looked there the other day. I just didn't think I was stupid enough to leave it by my bed. In the hallway… in the kitchen… I should have chucked it the minute I snatched it from the bastard who almost crashed into Misaki and I. Hadn't been thinking, though. Funny, I went looking for the weapon that would kill Tasaki the day he came back into my life in the flesh, outside the High School...  
_

Akihiko didn't flinch as Misaki smacked a cold red towel onto his eye from behind him. Misaki began to walk around him but stumbled a little as Akihiko put his hand on top of his and stroked his thumb over Misaki's hand.

Misaki

Misaki took the towel off and sat on the edge of the table, back to Ousari and began rubbing off the dried blood around his eye. He tried not to gasp as he saw three small lines cut deep over Akihiko's left eyebrow and just under his eye.

Akihiko cleared his throat and looked to Ousari as Misaki tended to his wound.

"So you stole it and thought you'd sell it. It is a pretty knife…" Misaki clipped Akihiko round the back of the head and Akihiko smirked at him. "Albeit a senselessly made weapon."

"And then…" Ousari spoke, in a daze. "I came downstairs, ready to wait for you to come back an the next thing I knew, Tasaki was pulling out a gun over there by the windows."

Misaki looked over to the stated scene and saw that a blue, tall lampshade had been knocked over and the bulb had been smashed.

"So you whacked him round the head with a lampshade…" Misaki muttered, more to himself than anyone else. He looked back to Akihiko and saw the man looking at Ousari like he was assessing how best to tie the woman up. It pleased Misaki to see that Akihiko didn't appear to be eyeing her long, exposed legs.

"Then I put him on the sofa and put the gun on the table."

"And by the time he had woken up, a little worse for wear, I arrived."

"And he tried to kill you, instead… He was about to pull the trigger..." Ousari wept.

"So you killed him with the knife you stole from me that you had in your…?" Akihiko tried to find a pocket on Ousari's skirt or shirt but found none.

"Slipped it down my shirt, in my bra."

Misaki blinked twice and then slapped the towel back onto Akihiko's eye, harder this time. Akihiko did flinch a little then.

"Hold it in place," Misaki ordered. He was getting heavily pissed off.

_I should have called the Police by now… but I have a feeling Akihiko would get in some serious trouble… which is why I haven't. But I should. I definitely, definitely should._

"And now," Akihiko said, leaning back in the opposite, matching sofa and holding the towel to his eye so hard the water dripped onto his shirt. Misaki clenched his jaw.

_He's gonna want me to wash that out. Damn. Idiotic. Stupid. Author. Child. _

"I've had my fingerprints on the knife as well, Misaki has my blood on his hands, you have Tasaki's blood on your hands and Tasaki is losing all his blood via his once over-eager mouth."

"I've just killed a man…"

_I feel like I'm in a soap opera…_

"We need to get you to a hospital," Misaki mumbled to Akihiko.

"Not really possible… hmm… do you still have my mobile, Misaki?" Misaki handed it to him and watched Akihiko flick through his contacts. Then he pressed one and held it to his ear. He really did look a sorry sight with the wet towel, even though he was smiling in such an accepting way.

"Hello? Yes… no, Hiroki, I'm not abusing an eighteen year old… Yes, I need help- is your candy available?" Misaki heard a torrent of insults fizz from the other end. Akihiko seemed highly entertained by them all as he replied. "Oh, Nowaki is his name, is it?" A pause, as 'Hiroki' replied. Then, "My eye is bleeding," from Akihiko.

Akihiko hung up and looked to Misaki, grinning.

"Misaki, pack your bags. The plan has changed- you're coming with me."

"Stop making my decisions for me-" Akihiko clamped his free hand over Misaki's mouth.

"Ousari. Flee. Don't tell either of us where you go." He pulled a wad of cash from his back pocket, dropping his towel on his knee. "Here."

It was then that Misaki realised they had not paid for their breakfast at the café this morning.

_Robbers. Murderers. Criminals. What next?_

Ousari stood up, didn't say a word to either of them and left the apartment. She didn't even take a last glance at the man she had killed.

Akihiko took his hand from Misaki's mouth and smiled at him.

"You have ten minutes until we have to go."

"Why are you letting _her_ go?"

"Any of us would have killed him at some point. She has enough money there to create a whole new identity for herself. Least I could do…"

"You're warped, you know that?"

"Warped, yes. But you still love me." Akihiko leaned forward to kiss Misaki, but the boy swooped down, only to be pushed to the floor. He lay on his back and watched with his jaw clenched as Akihiko came on top of him.

"Get off me!"

"Mm… maybe we should give ourselves fifteen minutes instead," Akihiko hummed, lowering his mouth to blow coolly on the side of Misaki's neck.

"Ugh, in front of a corpse! You're a fiend! A sex-a-holic! Only rabbits can so carelessly…" Laughter bubbled up Misaki's throat. He was tired and felt manic.

_I'm on the floor in an apartment with a corpse- of an ex-lover of the man over me- slowly rotting by the washing machine. And I'm laughing. I'm just as bad as the rest of them. Just as bad as this nymphomaniac._

"Usagi!" Misaki cried, in a eureka moment. Akihiko paused by Misaki's ear, which he had been about to suck.

"Pardon?"

"Get off," Misaki said. He squirmed out from under Akihiko and stood up. Walking towards the staircase, he called back, "Think of a way to get rid of that body-" _This is like some sort of onsen mystery. Hah! Might as well enjoy it while I can. Oh Mum. Oh Dad. I'm so sorry. _"And fast. Usagi-san."


	14. Cogitation

Hey Guys- Would really, really love some reviews for this chapter. I love to hear what people think of my writing, be it praise or criticism. It is ALL welcomed. Most of all, though, I hope you enjoy =)

* * *

Akihiko

_So tired. So burnt out. Wouldn't it be so much easier to have to fall out of love with the one you love instead of falling in, further and further? If I could fall out of love with him, then I wouldn't want him need me all the time and then I wouldn't hurt him and get him involved in the quicksand of my life. God knows I'm choking on the grains. How much sicker in the head do I have to get before I stop myself from being so repulsive… making a move on him with a corpse in the room… I wanted him to feel safe… so I pushed him to the floor… maybe I should just sign myself in now… I could order a straight jacket online… be wearing it by the time I get wheeled in there. Misaki hasn't even met my family yet. Not that I ever want him to, but if such culminations of misfortune- like Ousari and Tasaki- can come into my life… I'd… I'd rather have Misaki pulverised into dust than have him with me… or away from me._ _He asked me to do something with that body.  
_

Akihiko- now affectionately nicknamed 'Usagi-san'- had not moved since Misaki had practically bounced up those stairs more than ten minutes ago. Circumstances like this didn't have patience for any time restrictions. Akihiko wasn't about to yell up at him. He didn't have the energy to whisper up his thoughts to the boy he had fallen so deeply for.

_Warped. This is warped. I doubt any psychiatrist could quite deal with this moment in its entirety. I doubt I'd be sane right now if it weren't for him. Or conscious, considering my eye. He's saving me.  
_

The passage of moments last night… with Misaki beneath him… they were seconds longer than an eternal bliss. Seconds he had tried to cling to. Seconds that had almost made him cry.

_I wouldn't have been able to distinguish those tears in the mass of motion though… the motion of our bodies, our breath… his heart… I can't remember my heartbeat… maybe it was too shocked…_

The wide-eyed, paralysed appearance of Tasaki, recaptured unexpectedly in his mind, pushed Akihiko out of his cogitation. The way that blade had pushed through his velvet waistcoat, shirt and then chest… it was like a knife through butter.

It was really beginning to sink into Akihiko what was going on and what had happened. The events were like a badly mixed cocktail- plenty of sugar but far too much Tabasco and misplaced olives…

_You're actually thinking about olives in a time like this._

Misaki

_My life is beyond recognition. Dumbfounded is an understatement. I've just walked into a horror movie. That's all. This is just some sick reality TV show that I don't know has been filming this whole time. _

Misaki blinked, slower than a feather falling to the ground and with about the same lightness. He had collapsed on the cool floorboards of his room, by the side of his bed… which had barely been slept in since he had officially moved in with Akihiko.

_I wish I were a balloon… A white one… that way I could just merge in with the clouds as I floated up… and away…_

_Up and away…_

"_Up and away!" Mum cried that week… as Dad threw me up in the air… I had been laughing… so had… had Takahiro… before they died. Seven days later. Before Takahiro's life was moulded into something way beyond his years. And now all that effort. Has been…_

_Wasted? Really?_

_Without that upbringing, I wouldn't have met Akihiko… God. I called him Usagi-san like this was some sort of cute joke. I laughed… laughed like I had when Dad had made me feel closer to being a balloon than I ever had… ever will… so close to the sky._

Misaki heard Akihiko move around downstairs and could somehow sense a deep resentment, an overwhelming guilt.

_Guilt. Should I feel guilty? If I'd just called the Police quick enough… Tasaki wouldn't be dead. But-_

His next, instinctive thought scared him so much he sat up and clutched his hair- damp with cool sweat- in his trembling hands. Then he remembered he hadn't, foolishly, washed his hands since tending to Akihiko's wound.

_So now his blood is in my hair. Looking back through time… I've been stupid. This is nothing new._

_What do I do? Call Takahiro? And leave Akihiko here… alone… It's all merged together like the modern evening sky… with gold, liquefied, spilling overhead and determined blue peeking through… with aeroplane streaks scarring through, towers of tattered, puffy grey…_

_But the sky is the sky._

Misaki swallowed and winced a little, through he couldn't muster up the little surprise at how sore and dry his throat had become.

_And who did nothing wrong? Who gave you a home? Who held you? Who protected you… from… a-_

"Oh," Misaki muttered, aloud. _He put himself in front of me when Tasaki aimed at me… hold… it… he… risked his own life… And you would dare think of leaving, of cowering away to your brother after he did that…_

Akihiko

It kind of worried Akihiko at how expertly he had arranged Tasaki's limp body and the knife to look like a suicide… but he justified the professionalism by remembering his imagination as an author. As a teacher, he was… how to put it… rebelling?

_Yes, rebelling… after years of such regimented timetables and strict lunches of lumpy custard and mushy red apples, you just felt the need to be involved in a murder plot… sounds understandable enough…_

Killing time- and miserably laughing under his breath at the pun- he stoically poured himself a glass of cold coffee and patted his trouser pockets, checking for his lighter. When he couldn't find one, he almost called instinctively up to Misaki to ask him. But he curtailed his generic request just in time.

He fell back into the sofa and let his thumb hover over the 'call' button of his phone. Takahiro's number was highlighted on his mobile screen. He felt the bump of the button and the lower joint of his thumb was encouraging him forward… but then he heard a breath from behind him. His eyebrows purled together in a sorrowful sort of way as a poignantly woeful smile crept onto his face.

_I even recognise his breath…_

"Let's go…" Misaki's quiet tone sounded questioning and worried, as though he was scared Akihiko was going to snap his down.

Akihiko put his mobile on the table in front of him and gradually stood up and turned to face Misaki.

The boy had a rucksack on his back and his eyes fixed on Akihiko like pins in a corkboard… like it was painful for him to look, but he couldn't help but look. Akihiko knew how he felt…

Mournfully- but in the sense that they were worried for eachother and not about the situation- they moved through the still open front door, leaving the near past behind them.

Akihiko had, with precision worthy of a man who had been planning this moment for years, laid a piece of paper on Tasaki's chest. But nothing had been forged. Tasaki had written the note himself. The suicide note. It had been in his waistcoat, had narrowly escaped the knife.

Tasaki had been ready to meet the end Ousari had plunged him into.

Tasaki had been planning a trio of deaths- Ousari's, then Akihiko's and then his own.

As Akihiko had read the note at the time he had manoeuvred Tasaki, it had struck him more powerfully than ever that events can strike different people in very different ways.

Akihiko had been the U-Turn of Tasaki's life.

Tasaki had been a pit-stop in Akihiko's.

But Akihiko couldn't feel guilty for that. Not when the pit-stop had tried to shoot Misaki.

So Akihiko and Misaki left the condo wordlessly, Misaki with his rucksack and Akihiko with what he was wearing and his wallet. Neither of them spoke about leaving eachother's side, or sending the other away.

Both were selflessly selfish. Because, well… who would be stupid enough to leave their shield for life?

And Misaki's scared thought? The one that had come into his mind, the one that had made him clutch his hair like a madman?

_I'd rather a thousand Tasakis dead than Akihiko's body lifeless._


	15. One And I'll Know

Very sorry for the very long wait for this update, I hope none of you are bored with this story now . I hope this chapter is enjoyed and really hope people will review- it really helps my writing and thus my stories. Any constructive views are more than welcome. Any. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Misaki

_Humming. Yes… humming. Sounds like… some sort of instrument… smooth…_

"Are you waking up?"

_Akihiko?_

Misaki made an indistinct noise, a sort of croaky groan, and turned his head. Sure enough, Usami Akihiko was sitting at the wheel of his red sports car. There were gaunt, dark arcs beneath his purple eyes that made his pale skin seem even more translucent- but in the bleak white morning his skin seemed grey. He seemed weary and much more unlike his usual self.

"Where are we?" Misaki sat up in the chair and rolled his wrists and ankles routinely. Outside the window on his side he could see vast, lime-green paddy fields, behind which were steep dark green mounds of trees. The view sped past his vision at an oddly soothing pace.

_Usagi-san's driving calms me? Woah…_

"I don't think I should tell you. Someone might call and intimidate you to answer where we are and you'll snap-"

"I will not snap! Besides, whoever might be looking for us will have the technology to track us."

Akihiko let out a single, non-hurtful laugh and turned a corner that veered upwards. Taking a look through the window on Akihiko's side, Misaki saw that they were moving up a mountain.

"It's beautiful around here…" he muttered. He tried to remember yesterday's events after the…

_Incident… you don't have to think about it. You're safe with Usagi-san for now… at least… just don't think about it. Murder, yes… but you're both alive._

Strangely enough, he couldn't muster up a memory after leaving the condo door.

"Did I-"

"You fainted after we got into the elevator and I carried you to the car… returned back to the apartment for a few essential items."

Silently touched at the thought of Akihiko carrying him to the car, Misaki looked instinctively to the back of the car to see the 'essential items'.

"You consider essential items to be a large, stuffed bear and your laptop? IDIOT, THEY COULD TRACK US ON THAT LAPTOP!"

"Firstly," Akihiko said, the epitome of calm, "that bear happens to be very, very important to me. Then there's the laptop- my life without writing would be non-existent." Misaki rolled his eyes at the grandiosity in the man's voice. "Secondly, you really must stop thinking with such a murder-mystery mindset."

"Don't. Patronise. Me."

Akihiko smirked.

"Then don't be so darn cute."

Misaki opened his mouth to growl back, but Akihiko executed the boy's train of thought by swiping a white paper packet from the glove compartment in front of him.

The scent of fresh prawn rolls invaded his senses and Misaki's stomach grumbled with yearning.

"Good morning, lover."

Misaki let the nickname pass, too infatuated with the food now in his hands.

"Have you eaten?" Misaki spoke, through a mouthful of the thinnest, crunchiest, golden pastry and spices.

"Ate whilst you slept. How do you feel?"

Misaki thought hard about his answer.

"Safe."

Akihiko let out a clipped 'hmm', turning a sharp turn into a side bay of the narrow, twisting road. Before Misaki protested, his eyes set upon the rising sun. It rose like a scintillating jewel, casting bijou rays down onto the rice fields and reflecting off the snaky streams that coiled up to the reigning mountains in the far distance.

Akihiko

The car engine turned off abruptly and for a few peaceful seconds, both men sat and watched the sun lift into the still pallid sky.

"Worthy of a postcard…"

"Worthy of a memory," Akihiko replied, matching Misaki's tone of reverence. Misaki didn't notice Akihiko's hand moving to the chair lever by the side of his chair.

"Wh-!"

Akihiko twisted his body with feline flexibility and put his hands on either side of Misaki's head. The chair had leapt backwards into a lying down position at Akihiko's speedy fingers.

_Just one kiss, Misaki… one and I'll know that you're not repulsed by me._

There were prawn roll crumbs on Misaki's soft neck. Akihiko moved his body entirely on top of the boy's and stuck his tongue out just enough to catch the crumbs on it. He sensed the trembles from Misaki's body, as his tongue didn't quite make contact with his skin.

Misaki's knee jerked up a little bit by Akihiko's hip as a jolt ran through him.

"No! Usagi-san, let me up! Now! Come on! Please!"

Akihiko's nose traced lightly up Misaki's throat before his placed a cool kiss underneath his jaw.

"Kiss me and I'll stop," he whispered, voice almost as calm and gradual as the morning around them.

"What? Don't be stupid, I'm not going to kiss you." Misaki put his hands on Akihiko's chest- only covered by a white shirt- ready to attempt to push him away. Unfortunately for Misaki, his hands landed right on Akihiko's well-toned muscles and for an unbearable pause, the man sensed the boy's lust. But it disappeared quick as a slap. "Get off." The two words rang of determined upset.

_Repulsed by me… understandable enough._

Akihiko raised his neck to kiss Misaki himself, but the boy looked down like a frightened dog.

Misaki

The man lifted himself and had the car running in a minute, leaving Misaki lying down.

_I… no, don't use that word yet. You're just… hormonal… this is going so fast. Life with this guy is like a thriller novel and the days turn like the most exciting pages. But he's a guy and more… a teacher._

Five minutes later, the car drove up to a pair of high, wrought-iron gates on a white gravel driveway. Misaki had managed to move his chair upright once more but he had been digging his nails into his palms, ashamed.

_Why am I pushing him away? I'm so undeserving… unworthy._

Akihiko felt like a splinter had run through his gut.

_Am I holding him hostage or is he a willing prisoner? God. I have no idea what I'm doing. Don't act like that though… do the best for him… show him how close you're willing to be… no matter how hard he… pushes…_

The splinter pierced deeper at that point.

_You're ruining this boy's life._

Misaki

_You're wasting this man's time._

_

* * *

_Review please! Thank you for reading!_  
_


	16. The Man Felt

OK- this is a really late update and I'm sorry for that, but hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter and forgive me? If not, then I shall hang my head in shame... Reviews are welcomed, as long as they are constructive. Thank you for reading!

* * *

Akihiko

_So it has come to this- silent reminiscence on a much, much simpler time. _

_In different rooms._

_Away from any sense of normality or security._

_Long gone were the days of peace._

_Bon voyage to the sweet seconds of simple nothing I had once experienced._

_Now was time to grow up…_

_With an eighteen year old…_

Misaki

_Feel something. Feel anything! For God's sake, please! _

_You've just been present at a murder!_

_Someone has practically just kidnapped you… in such a warped and literal way._

_Why aren't you –_

"Feel something!" Misaki hissed to himself, sitting on the floor and leaning against the stylishly made up bed of the bedroom Akihiko had wordlessly led him too an hour before. Akihiko had gone to another room soon after. It was stark white- this room- with dark blue touches here and there and a whole wall dedicated to glass that was begging for Misaki's eyes to cast over the delicious scenery around him; jade, moist paddy fields and jagged, magnificent mountains in refreshingly uplifting shades of silvery grey.

Alas these views were wasted on him- those views would be wasted on any shocked boy… Misaki clasped the front of his shirt with his shaking hands and shook his head as he looked down at his slip-on Nike trainers.

_Pull yourself together. Come on!_

"Arrgh!" Misaki growled, swiftly swiping his hands up to his hair, which he clutched tightly, trying to elicit some sort of emotion other than frustration.

_You know what you need…_ Misaki's thoughts were changing into tones akin to cats or snakes; slithery yet wise, seductive but obviously dangerous.

_Come on… you know what you really __want_, _don't you…_ Misaki would assign a Cheshire Cat grin to that thought. _What you need…_

Then a kinder, unexpected voice patted him sympathetically on some imaginary shoulder:-

_Give yourself a break._

Misaki only realised then that his eyes were watering and his vision shimmered on the white-painted, wooden-panelled floor between his raised knees before he let himself blink.

A sigh, one laden with grief and resignation, levitated by the door to Misaki's right.

"Would you like to go back to Takahiro?" Akihiko's voice was just too beautifully strewn with regret and cherished worries.

Misaki stood up.

He wiped his eyes with his thumbs and let his whole body relax- a conclusive thought had just drugged his body and mind in the most natural way possible.

He walked over to Akihiko, whose eyes were struggling to stay open with the burden of the dark crescents beneath them.

But something sparked those eyes right up. Something…

Wonderful.

Misaki kissed Akihiko, the lightest stamp of lips recorded. Abashed at his action, the boy looked down and opened his mouth to spew out some excuse, but the man had his fire lit and before Misaki could _breathe_, Akihiko's burning lips set Misaki's alight as well.

Akihiko

"Uh- I… stop-" Misaki tried to speak through Akihiko's painfully skillful mouth.

"Listen," Akihiko whispered, breathing heavy, "Would you please kill that annoying voice that keeps prompting you to speak like that."

Then Akihiko kissed Misaki again, tenderly sucking a little pressure into the boy's lower lip and as Akihiko's hands moved- one into Misaki's hair and the other to secure him at his lower back- the man felt a rush tingle through, beneath his own tongue.

Misaki's lips were sticky from where he had been chewing them nervously earlier on and this did not pass by Akihiko- he gently but demonically swept his tongue ever so slowly over both of Misaki's lips, tracing his finger ever so lightly down the outside of Misaki's thigh.

Misaki

"Gahh…" Misaki's voice trembled as he struggled to take a breath, Akihiko's mouth brushing down Misaki's slender throat.

"I'm sorry," Akihiko whispered against Misaki's Adam's Apple. "For all I've done…" The teacher slid his leg between Misaki's.

_Oh God… can he feel how hard I am?_

"I want to dedicate my life-" Akihiko's hand gracefully pulled Misaki's leg to his hip, raking his other hand down to rest at the middle of Misaki's spine- "to making up for what I've put you through."

Misaki's eyes scrunched tight as he gritted his teeth together, blood surging to his cheeks and pulsing far south from there as well.

_Under the spell again…uh! God must have placed a demon on this Earth to torture me… a demon in this man's disguise… so good…_

"And I'm sorry-" Akihiko placed a delicate kiss on Misaki's Adam Apple and then spoke in a darkly lower tone as he forced Misaki toward the bed, not yet pushing him onto it- "I'm sorry..." Akihiko traced his nose up Misaki's neck and to the softest part behind Misaki's ear.

"Uhh…" Misaki couldn't hold back the desperate utteration. Akihiko's breath was making his flesh weak, his limbs limp yet rigid at the same time. The feel of Akihiko's muscular body shaped firmly with his own turned him on to no end.

_Tense… oh Hell this is painful… but… uh… so good…_

_Everywhere shivering but one particular area… I know he must be able to feel how hard I am now…_

_Damn him!_

"I'm sorry if I make you orgasm too many times."

This sparked the last remains of Misaki's energy as Akihiko smirked, revelling in the boy's reaction- this was just how he liked him… riled up to wind up even more.

"What? Who would say something like that? What the fuck is wrong with-"

"Akihiko? Are you here?"

The boy's and the man's eyes met as both realised there was another presence downstairs.

_Damn. Oh… wait… someone else being here annoys me… shouldn't I be thankful? Uhoh…_

Akihiko

_I shall kill whoever that is downstairs with the speed of a cheetah. On second thoughts maybe two murders in one day isn't such a good idea... don't want to scare Misaki... a.k.a. the missus...  
_


	17. Might Have Dictated

Hey . I know. I'm crap. I haven't updated in like... lightyears. To those amazing people who have been reading my fanfics, I apologise... I hope the wait hasn't made you forget the previous occurrences in this plot. Hate me. Punish me. Review me... truthfully.  
Akihiko: Wishing won't get you there.  
Me: I know...  
Akihiko: Then quit writing me lines. 

* * *

Misaki

_Great. Juuuuust great- trust Akihiko to have guests as he tries to seduce me. He probably gets some sort of kick out of it… weirdo. How he ever got that post at the school, I don't know… Hold on, concentrate on the now! Don't let him kiss you when someone else is about to walk in!_

"Baka, Akihiko! Don't kiss me when there's someone else here!"

"They can't see us, who cares…" Akihiko mumbled, determined to be as oblivious as possible to the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Akihiko?"

"Alan…" Akihiko sneered.

"Yes, Akihiko, it's me."

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Well… um… this is my house…"

"Yes, which you said I was more than welcome at whenever I wanted to visit-"

"This isn't your house?" Misaki cried out, trying desperately to push his way out of Akihiko's strong arms as the voice of the newest arrival came closer to the room they were in.

"Well, if I remember rightly, Alan did say what was his was mine as well-"

"Akihiko," 'Alan' said, "I honestly meant that, but I do have guests."

"Ah, the more the merrier."

At this point, Alan entered the room. Misaki's expectations for the humiliation he would feel far exceeded his estimations- in Akihiko's arms with Akihiko's mouth only an inch from his neck…

_Not. Good._

"Oh, so you have company, do you?"

"Yes, I too have company." It was then that Akihiko abruptly let go of Misaki, so as to look at Alan and emanate his own brand of egotistical self-righteousness.

"I recognise him…" Alan stated, leaning against the doorframe of the room. His unusually small pupils were stuck to a pair of toffee brown irises that had Misaki momentarily glued for a moment as well. As Misaki observed the owner of the house, he saw that this man must have been about the same height as Akihiko, take away a few inches. He was bald as an egg and, judging from the poorly pronounced Japanese and the European knot in his tie, he was British.

"No you don't," Akihiko blurted. Off-put by Akihiko's out of character response- it was unlike him to answer so abruptly and nervously- Misaki looked up at him.

"You're hiding something," Misaki deduced.

"Takahiro! He's… goodness, you haven't grown." Alan evidently didn't know Akihiko very well, or at least not as well as Misaki did; when Akihiko said you didn't know someone in that tone of voice, you bloody well went along with it. Held your bloody tongue. _This Alan guy is gonna get the glare-_

"It's shocking," Akihiko remarked, suddenly not as nervous as he had been. He put on a stance of nonchalance as he slipped out a packet of cigarettes from his trouser pocket along with a lighter and prepared to light a fag.

_Ok, fine- I was wrong… I bet he's saving the glare for later on. OH GOD! LISTEN TO ME!_

"Nuhuh! Not in this house, you don't," Alan called out, knocking the lighter out of Akihiko's hand with a swift tap from his index and middle fingers.

At this point, Misaki was completely confused; Alan had patronised and impressed him in the space of about thirty seconds. Confusion did not sit well with him. Plus, Akihiko's ever-changing moods were starting to play tricks on his judgement. He found himself desperate to get out of the Twilight Zone.

"Well, I, um… wouldn't want to get in the way of this reunion you two seem to have going on, so I think I'm just going to, er… call a cab-"

"Don't be stupid, Misaki; we're on the run, remember? Well, for a while." Akihiko still didn't seem to be affected by this.

"On the run? Whatever for?" Alan queried, his tone not quite as worried as society might have dictated.

"Witnessing the murder of Tasaki- you remember him?"

"Not very well, only met him once. Is he the one who did that to your eye?"

"Yes- I daresay it was his final pleasure."

"I see." Alan sighed and shrugged off his black dinner jacket.

"Molly, Ted and his brother Clyde are here tonight, but I think there'll be room for you here. No life has been lived without aiding a few avoid-ees of the law…"

"Misaki and I can double in."

"Wh-" Akihiko shot Misaki the look that Misaki had been expecting to be delivered to Alan a few sentences ago. He stared incredulously at the man then made to exit the room as speedily as he could. But Akihiko's arm blew out in front of him and hit his chest like a wooden plank. "Ow!"

"Then don't be stupid," Akihiko said simply.

Alan seemed to be enjoying the scenario greatly.

"Well, it seems like you two are a package deal-" Misaki gritted his teeth and looked down at his shoes, determined not to disrespect the man who, no matter his faults, was allowing him to stay in his home- "so I'll just let the both of you settle in and then you can come on down and we'll drink and make merry." _Drink and make merry? What kind of weird are you!_ "Oh, I am sorry- I forgot to ask your name…?" _He must be speaking to me._

Misaki opened his mouth to fill Alan in, when Akihiko butted in, leaning against the wall and observing his nails.

"Kaori."

"I can speak for myself!" _Wait, that's not my name._ "My-" But Alan had already left the room, a demeaning little chuckle following him.

"I know you can."

"Then why answer for me!" Misaki growled through gritted teeth.

"Because-" Akihiko put his hands on Misaki's shoulders and spun him round, pinning him to the wall and staring down at him perilously seductively- "I like it when you're wound up."

"Then you're just a… a…" _Think of a word more sophisticated than bully… _"Manipulator… yes… Manipulator!"

"I think this situation would call for a slight morphing of that word," Akihiko purred, face edging closer to Misaki's, his hands still on Misaki's shoulders. "Maybe…" Akihiko put his mouth right by Misaki's ear. "Boynipulator."

"I am a man!"

"A real man?" Akihiko asked, pulling back and smirking.

"Yes, I'm a real man! What kind of-"

"I should get you and Pinocchio together some time."

Misaki gnarled and tried to shake out of Akihiko's grip. Akihiko smirked some more.

"Ugh! You're like an over-grown child! Behave!" Misaki was a little stunned at himself for crying out the last word.

"Never," Akihiko whispered, his breath vellicating the skin on Misaki's neck, causing him to shiver. "Hm." The little utterance came out victorious.

"Let me go."

"Sure thing, Kaori."


	18. Good Versus Bad Scale

Another chapter- hopefully people will like this : ) Please review honestly.

* * *

Akihiko

_At least he's safe now. At least I'm not putting him in any more danger now… I've done one good thing. Does it take a featherweight off my good versus bad scale? Will I ever repay my debts? Only… I was achingly alone before Misaki came along, all grown up… new bud bloomed… I remember praying for a chance to make things right. At 28, I've achieved a few smut books, a couple of bestsellers… all material… now this miracle had materialised and all I want to do is sweep away the sins and… and…_

"Akihiko, what have you told the school?"

_Misaki's speaking… oh, right, reply!_

"Nothing." _Why should I? _

"Because you work there! Plus, you're my…"

_Ahh yes…_ Akihiko smiled as he realised what word Misaki was going to have to say.

"Guardian," Misaki grumbled. "So it's you that needs to report me absent…"

"You want me to write you a note saying that you're not able to attend school? You were a real man a couple of minutes ago."

"It's school law! Or have you decided we just don't follow the law anymore?" _We… he couples us together like that… makes my heart swell._

"Do you honestly care about the law?"

"Yes!"

"Any law?"

"Of course."

"Then you should know that not wearing a tie in the presence of a Lord in Japan is illegal."

"Wh… you made that up."

"Didn't," Akihiko lied, swishing off his tie. He began to arrange it around Misaki's neck, ignoring his squirming.

Misaki gave him a bovine, dark look.

"Are you just putting that on me so you can take it off?"

"Now you're getting the hang of it…"

Misaki

_Oh no… not this again… so soon…_

An ice-cold chill shivered underneath Misaki's skin as a foudroyant sensation imprisoned his body. Akihiko was kissing him. He didn't have the strength to push away, but he was desperate to. All at once, he felt like he was back in Akihiko's apartment, the sunlight melting over them… molten-hot clouds of lust rose inside his chest and he couldn't hold back the moan as Akihiko yanked him forward to kiss him deeper. He felt his lips kiss back, massaging Akihiko's and was both reluctant and…

_Completely and utterly roped in. How does he do this? There was a murder yesterday… I'm God knows where and yet still, none of that seems to matter because we're close as we can be._

Misaki put his hands on Akihiko's chest in an effort to push the man away, but Akihiko took it as a praising of his body and heaved his chest up in a-

_Primal, sexy… Gah, stop thinking of his toned chest, for God's sake! Get a grip!_

He could feel his blood rushing in his ears as his neck curved backward, body weighed down with the overwhelming lo-

_No!_

"No!" Misaki managed to turn his head. _Not love._

Akihiko was panting a little bit, hands now on either side of Misaki's head. He looked down at Misaki's groin.

"My, how you've grown…"

"Bastard! Get off!" Misaki scrambled away, blushing a vehement scarlet as he wiped his mouth. "Would you take something seriously for once!"

Akihiko

_If I took situations other than loving you seriously then you'd be scared of me… I scare people… I can't scare you… no… not you._

"Not fun," Akihiko responded. He unknotted the tie and slung it round his neck. "Gonna do my tie?" He received a glare for that and smirked as he did his tie and watched Misaki rub his mouth even more, though the boy had turned away from him to hide his undeniable hard-on.

His tie done, he allowed his body to sag. Misaki couldn't see him, but his face changed from cocky to melancholic and weary.

_He's worth it, Akihiko… you know he his… if he honestly hated you, if he was disgusted by you… then he'd call the Police or something… unless, he feels… trapped…_

Misaki

_Stupid, bloody, perve of a teacher. Why does he have to kiss me like that? Weirdo._

Misaki turned around just in time to see Akihiko's face gravely grey and found himself horrified.

_Did I do that?_

"Aki…ko?" The man looked up as Misaki spoke, gave his a wide-eyed, desperate look then closed his eyes tightly.

"Go downstairs. I'll be down in a minute."

_I don't know anyone down there. I don't want to go without you! I… oh grow a pair. Be a man. _

"Oh…kay…"


	19. Cabbage

Misaki

_Things are molding together a bit too much… where has my judgment gone? It's been almost four weeks since I just met Akihiko… little over a month maybe… but… no, this is wrong. So much so soon. I've gone through years of a relationship in the space of days. This is so false… but why does it feel so right? And why do I feel guilty for having him look so forlorn? I've cried with him, slept with him, kissed him, cooked for him, cleaned his house, been in his car, gone to a hospital with him, been in a near car crash with him, gone to an office party with him, gone to restaurants with him and I lo-_

"No!" Misaki hissed at himself, holding his hair in his hands. He would not allow himself to even think that word. He felt a wave of sickness as he realised how easily he'd forgotten a very important bullet-point for that list… and oh how literal that bullet-point was…

_Bullet… point… gun… murder._

His parents would be so disappointed…

"I thought I told you to go downstairs." Akihiko's voice guided him back into the present and the sick feeling only increased.

_A sudden voice should shock you, not soothe you… I feel so lost… I want to be away from him but he's the only one I want to run to to be upset with… so baffled…_

Misaki went down a few steps in autopilot before his mouth took part in the moment.

"Why are we here?"

"Safest place I could think of."

"Are… are you okay?"

"Of course." But the way Akihiko moved on ahead of him, not walking down the wide, unlit stairs with him, unnerved Misaki and he suddenly knew how well he knew the man. But it wasn't like Akihiko was easily readable… was it?

_No, of course not! He's about as arcane as they come!_

"Kaori! Kaori?"

Misaki blinked and looked up.

_Oh. Yeah. Now I'm Kaori._

"Yes?"

"Would you like a drink?" Alan asked from the doorway of the living room. Misaki walked in and was a little comforted by the orange lamps and dark blue sofa, the wooden floors and, most importantly, the _normal sized living room_. It had a homely feel to it.

"Um, yes, plea-"

"No, he can't drink. Underage." Akihiko was standing by a bamboo plant, moving his wrist so the two ice cubes slid around the edge of his whisky glass. He was observing the ice with unnatural interest, other hand in his trouser pocket.

"Oh, but he's with adults. Surely-"

"No."

There was a pause, where Misaki tried very hard to bottle his embarrassment. Then,

"Hi, I'm Clyde," came a smiley voice. A hand appeared at Misaki's waist and Misaki took it and shook along with the blond man. His hair was curly and cherub like and his eyes warm brown like melting milk chocolate. His skin was the colour of cream and caramel. He didn't sound British, but he definitely didn't sound Japanese either. "I'm Australian, just learning Japanese the language now. So pardon my bad, er…"

"Pronunciation?" Misaki offered. Two laughs followed this, but Akihiko's did not mingle in.

Clyde put his hands in his combat pockets, laughing and nodding.

"Yeah… that!"

Misaki nodded and smiled.

"Hungry, anyone?" Misaki looked behind him to see a man who looked a lot like Clyde, but with straight brown hair and harder set eyes. He was balancing plates in the crook of his bent elbow and holding a casserole dish in his oven-glove-covered hands.

It was then that Misaki felt how empty his stomach was, which was odd because he had had those prawn rolls Akihiko had given him. Even so, that casserole smelt awesome…

Alan must have seen Misaki's eyes turn into saucers, because he laughed and answered,

"I think everyone is!"

Akihiko

_Well, this is pleasant. How nice it is to see another man, one who is undeniably more appropriate for Misaki, flirt with him right under my nose. Does Clyde not know what I am to Misaki? Has Alan just not explained? I don't think I could have been more obvious in the room upstairs!_

"So, Kaori, what school do you go to?" This question came from a bronze haired woman about Akihiko's age, who was slender as a leopard with feline eyes and a sharp nose. She was called Molly and had come into the room just after everyone had settled and had been served their meals.

"He doesn't," Akihiko answered, routine in his cover up.

"Ah… you must be Usami Akihiko?"

"Yes," Akihiko replied, seriously. "Stone Molly?"

"Er… oh, yes, you put the surname before the first name," Molly laughed, like correct grammar was just such a good joke. Akihiko was just about to give a stony reply to get this woman to stop talking to him, when he saw the looks Misaki was flitting in he and Molly's direction.

_Ah. Jealousy._

Alan and Ted were sat opposite each other in between Akihiko and Molly and Misaki and Clyde. Even so, the friction was felt and for a moment everyone seemed to buzz Akihiko and Misaki's frustration.

Ted began a conversation with Alan, which dimmed out but did not completely silence Misaki's compliment for Clyde's bracelet.

"Ah, yes, I got it at a beach stall. Just a little rope plaited with shells but, still…"

"No, it's really cool," Misaki pressed as he spooned a mouthful of chicken and cabbage casserole into his mouth.

"So are you Australian, too, Molly?" Akihiko questioned, keen to have Misaki see his and Molly's oh-so-brilliant repoire.

"No, I'm English," she smiled, looking down at Akihiko's untouched bowl.

"Oh, okay. Well," Akihiko proceeded in English, "How long have you been in Japan?"

This change of language had Misaki momentarily gaping but at a flick of Akihiko's eyes, he was back to talking to Clyde about… surfboards, was it?

_Oh, how mature._

"You speak English?" Molly seemed thrilled. Her over-joy for pretty much everything was getting on Akihiko's nerves, but it could have been worse… he'd been with worse… Hell, he'd witnessed the murder of worse…

_No. Must not think about that._ _So, do I speak English, Molly? No, it was just a trick of your ears… what kind of question is that. _

Akihiko suppressed a sigh.

"I spent part of my childhood there."

"Oh, wow, whereabouts?"

"Um…" Misaki and Clyde had stood up and walked out of the room, talking animatedly about some anime or other. "Near London."

"Does anyone want any more?" Misaki called from the doorway.

"Oh, yeah, please." Ted walked over to them with his empty bowl. He'd put the casserole dish back in the oven after serving everyone.

Misaki and Clyde left the room.

_Ok. Don't be obvious. Keep talking to Molly_.

"Ah, London's great. So full of life."

_So dirty, but yes admittedly lively._

"I think I definitely prefer Japan," Akihiko countered, diplomatically.

"So, Akihiko," Alan said. "Where did you pick up the runt? He's cute."

_Don't you dare call him a runt, you barren headed spore. Hey! Listen to yourself… Alan's a friend. He's just playing._

"At a get-together for one of my books."

"You and he seem to bite eachother's heads off a lot."

"Ahh, it's just a little bit of badinage. Would you excuse me." Akihiko rose from his wooden chair and headed straight to the kitchen. The sound of Misaki's laughter had him suddenly struck with sadness- he's never had Misaki laughing like that. Plus, the laughter was coming from the bathroom next to the kitchen. _Odd._

"So, you came with Usami Akihiko, then?" Clyde asked. Akihiko stayed in the unlit hallway, eavesdropping shamelessly.

"Err, yeah."

"He's an author, right?"

"Yup."

"Is he good?"

"Very, though I have to admit I haven't read all of his books. Bad of me, I know, I'm just a crappy reader."

"Why would you have to read all of them?"

A pause. _Yes, Misaki, why would you have to? Are you going to be honest here and say because it's your duty as a __lover__?_

"Errrr… I don't know!" Misaki's voice went high-pitched. _He's nervous._

"So how do you know him?"

Akihiko was just about to enter the kitchen to give Clyde the same over story, when Misaki spoke over him.

"At some do for one of his books."

"And now you're living with him?"

"Yup. He, err… needed a cleaner."

"Does he pay you?"

Misaki cleared his throat.

"Yeah, in the way he can." _Nicely saved, Misaki. But you don't know you've just given away the fact that you were listening in on my talking to the others._

"He hardly touched his meal!" Clyde randomly remarked.

"Um, he doesn't like cabbage," Misaki responded, bashfully. Akihiko felt a small rush of love towards Misaki.

"How do you know that?"

"He told me once." _Yeah, on one of those peaceful days before Tasaki got properly stuck in our hair._

"So you cook and clean for this guy, then? Is he completely unable to do anything? He looks pretty fit. Are you his trainer as well, then?" Clyde joked. Akihiko smirked- he could feel Misaki's blushing from where he was. _Hah. You could call him my trainer… I have had some exercise from him… with him…_

"Errr no," Misaki laughed, nervously. "But he is pretty lousy as cleaning and cooking. Great writer, pretty crumby at everything else." _Do you mean that?_

"I see… well, I'm gonna go back inside. See you in a mo." Akihiko swept into the kitchen just as Clyde came bouncing down the hallway. Akihiko found himself checking the guy's fly button then cursed himself for his paranoia. As Clyde went back into the living room, Akihiko went to the bathroom.

"What was he doing in here with you?"

* * *

Review please! It helps to motivate me =D


	20. Fire Away

Akihiko

_Please don't leave me, Please don't leave me, Please don't leave me…_

Akihiko had closed his eyes straight after asking Misaki the fateful question.

Misaki spoke innocently, though his voice had a tinge of annoyance.

"I spilt casserole on my top and Clyde was helping me- I couldn't reach the stain remover."

Akihiko opened his eyes and found Misaki sitting on the loo, a cloth on the bottom of his jumper.

_Helping? How helping? Was he the one rubbing?_

Akihiko surged forward, his spine folding over as his primal necessity to reclaim what was his punched into his system. His seized Misaki's chin and pulled his face upward towards him, kissing him to within an inch of Misaki's life.

Surprisingly, Misaki didn't fight back. Oh no. A new tactic was born from that moment- going limp.

But Akihiko didn't care; so long as he got to kiss Misaki, the answer to his prayers, he just didn't give a damn.

When Akihiko pulled back, he looked into Misaki's eyes with a thunderous seriousness. Misaki stared right back, awe evident by the dilation of his pupils and his slightly agape mouth.

The boy's lips were a little swollen from the ferocity of the kiss. Akihiko's lust matured and ripened- his manhood, his thumping heart, his inhales and exhales of breath, Lord, even his DNA, yearned to be inside Misaki, to touch that tender core of his soul existence.

_To feel the gracious slumber of reason and the awakening of passion for pleasure. _

Akihiko wanted to nurture Misaki's newfound sexual confidence, however minimal it was. But he knew it existed- he had seen it a couple of nights ago.

_To hold him trembling, to caress his aching skin-_

"I have to go back," Misaki muttered and ducked under Akihiko's arm, scurrying to the living room with shock painted on his face.

Misaki

_Grow a pair, Misaki! For God's sake! You're eighteen! You can't be feeling this! What kind of idiot are you? _

Misaki had not gone back to this living room. He had retreated to the room Akihiko had assigned to him, though probably without much right to. That kiss... the third today... it felt like it had unscrewed something inside him.

And it was painful.

His breathing was ragged and as he heard footsteps coming nearer a little bird of hope perched somewhere in the centre of his chest...

The disappointment that drenched his insides made Misaki stumble over his words as Clyde came into the room.

Akihiko

_Fine. Let the boy have a taste of lust alone- see how it suits him. Hell, you've taken this all way too seriously. The boy obviously isn't for you. Far too cowardly. Far too… I love him._

"Akihiko? Akihiko?" Alan was waving something in Akihiko's direction.

"Mm?"

"Partial to a spliff?"

_Yes. Yes you are. Gimme some of those drugs. I'm sure even Shakespeare had his moments of weakness. I love him._

"Yes, thank you."

The first inhale of that roll-up, with it's sweet marijuana taste and smoky aroma, sent Akihiko back years. To times of runaway adolescence. To a time of… Of…

_I love him. I love him. I love him. I love…_

Misaki

"You seem upset- anything I can help with?" Clyde sat down with Misaki on the bed.

"Err," Misaki laughed, eyes still red from the crying he had done alone, "No!" Misaki tried to don Akihiko's mastered tone of nonchalance. Of course, he didn't succeed. Clyde saw through it.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Misaki smiled, scratching the back of his head. "Fire away."

"Are you and Usami Akihiko a pair?"

"No! Nooo! No… Nonononononono. No. No. Noo!"

"I'll take that as a-"

_Oh give it up. Just admit it. You… you lo… _

"Yes," Misaki whispered.

"Oh," Clyde said. "You know, for someone of your age, that's a pretty big commitment. Especially when Usami Akihiko's at least ten years older than you. But I believe you. I can see it. The way he looks at you… but you seem a little… reluctant? Why is that?"

_Yeah, why is that?_

"Scared it's too big? Too overwhelming? That you might lose it... or something?"

"N-" Misaki paused.

_Yeah, you are. You've lost anyone else you've ever lov… felt that for. Scared makes sense... scared was the keyhole... and look how you've left the one who's been nothing but loving, nothing but giving... total perve, of course but... but...  
_

"Oh." Misaki's voice warbled quietly as he put a hand over his mouth. Tears filmed over his eyes. Out of the corner of his wavy vision, he saw Clyde nod his head in an understanding manner.

"Just realised it, hey?"

Misaki swallowed.

"I need to do some thinking," he said, voice dry.

"I knew someone like you once… it was a shot in the dark, I'll admit… the you being scared of losing him thing… but this girl I knew felt that same way about the guy she was with. She just didn't know it…"

Silence.

"I'll let you be."

Ten numbing minutes later, Misaki found himself standing in the doorway, unable to move himself.

This emotion, now uncorked, was so powerful. He felt like he had been beaten up. He felt bruised. He felt desperate for the safety he knew he could rely on.

Akihiko.

But it wasn't like he hadn't felt this. That night with Akihiko when they had really... been... together, he had felt this. But his awareness of it hadn't been as acute as it was now. His body was brimming with regret and fear and... and...

_Such a hard way to learn this… so what if it goes wrong. You'll regret it if you don't just go for it… he needs you to look after him anyway. Yeah, that's it- he needs someone looking after him. He's useless._

Misaki wouldn't let a cognitive sentence form out of the following thought, but the gist of it was this:

Akihiko may have needed him to cook and clean and be his little, dare he say it, mistress…

But Misaki needed Akihiko for his stubborn affection. No matter how naïve Misaki was in the world of Love, he knew that love so undying and Love with such honest roots was rare.

Of course, both needed the other for many other reasons as well.

_How did Clyde know that? It feels to good to fall into place just like that… Is that l word emotion supposed to feel so heavy? Damn it, stop thinking. Act._

With that, Misaki sped down to the living room, one motive keeping him moving.

_Love._


	21. Farrago

I would really appreciate some reviews for this :) Hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Akihiko

_The room is quiet. Peaceful… time for me to be… pensive. Yes. Pensive is the word. Enough time for me to work out how I'm going to get Misaki back to Takahiro. That's where he belongs… I know that… or, at the very least, it's makes me happy to know he'll be somewhere safe where he won't feel trapped. He obviously doesn't want me around him… but something huge inside of me is yelling he does- what is this, an instinct? It feels like one… Something is screaming at me, telling me that he is best off with me- but then that could just be the little creature I've harboured out of habit:_

_Selfishness. _

Akihiko was at a conclusive loss. He was lounging in the living room, arms over the back of the sofa under him and a whisky glass balancing on his thigh.

_Yes. This is best… this will be… good… won't it?_

Misaki

_Just go in there and reveal how you feel. Ok, déjà vu, you did this a couple of weeks ago… even so, you've back-pedalled horrifically… time for you to make up some time… So. Go in there… do… do yourself proud. Make… help him know how much he means to you. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on… oh but what if I get it wrong?_

A tidal wave of reserved pep rushed up his system, a rhythm of 'Do it, Do it, Do it, Do it' rampaging inside his chest.

Misaki tried to maintain a state of calm as he wandered into the living room, which somehow felt a little like home…

_Because Akihiko's sitting right there… that's why…_

It was overwhelming for Misaki, allowing himself to think these thoughts.

"W-Where are the others?" _Do I smell smoke? Probably… But Alan said no to cigarettes…_

"Out. They got high and decided a visit to Kanawe was in order."

"Kanawe?" Misaki sat on a wooden chair in front of Akihiko and noticed how relaxed Akihiko seemed to be, with his eyes serene and almost completely closed, arms outstretched behind him… like a wild cat soaking up sun after a successful kill… or mating session…

"It's a restaurant half an hour from here."

"Oh…" _Stop dilly-dallying and do it already. Come on. _"Aki…" _Use that little nickname you picked up… no, not the rabbit one… the way you say his name… come on, admit it… you do say it a different way…  
_"Aki-ko."

"Mm?" Akihiko took a sip of his whisky. Misaki opened his mouth to continue, but Akihiko cut in. "I'll get you to Takahiro as soon as I can. This obviously isn't working."

The pincer-sharp pinch wasn't from what Akihiko had said. More, it was from how he said it. With little or no interest at all. This was one level up from nonchalance.

Misaki's bundled confidence scrunched up like an angry scribble on a piece of paper.

"I don't… I don't want to go." His voice was quiet- he was trying so hard to keep his emotions on a leash.

"Oh come on," Akihiko patronised, unleashing his deep violet gaze on Misaki. "We both know you're not up to this." At this, Akihiko stood up, leaving Misaki sitting there, face down to the floor. The man walked over to the doorway.

_What's going on? No… No, this is my fault. I need to fix this. Ignore him- he's a big kid, remember? Ha. Yeah!_

Misaki's thoughts didn't even believe in themselves. But Misaki fabricated them in order to vanquish the doubt, the hurt, the denial…

Akihiko began to laugh under his breath, cold and devilishly content. As that laughter coiled around Misaki's hearing, anger replaced the repressed sop of teenage confusion.

"Stop it," he said through gritted teeth, barely even moving his lips. Akihiko did. Maybe he sensed Misaki's anger. Misaki's eyes darted to an ashtray on the table and saw what looked like a doob.

_Show him you're made of more than what he's seen…_

Akihiko looked over just as Misaki put the drugged cigarette in his mouth. He was about to stop him, when Misaki lit it after two attempts, with the lighter that had been left on the table.

He was in awe. He tried to pummel down the chuckle as Misaki tried to hold down his splutters.

_Who knew a non-smoker smoking could be sexy?_

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Misaki swallowed, eyes watering.

"What does it look like, dumbass… Sit down. I have something to say."

Akihiko

Akihiko complied, going back to the sofa. Misaki put the cigarette in the ashtray, bit the corner of the inside of his lower lip… then took a deep breath.

"You…" Misaki began.

_What's this all of a sudden? He looks so young…_

"I…" the boy tried again. "You know, you should know… I… I l-"

_No. No, come on. Don't let him say it. You've forced him into a corner. He's not going to say it because he means it. Stop him._

"Misaki-" Akihiko's voice was low and constricted.

"No! I'm going to say this." Misaki looked up, green eyes blazing emerald with determination. A glint of jade singed at the edge of one his irises. Akihiko could practically see the sweat forming at the boy's hairline.

"Misaki, please," Akihiko reproached once more. "You don't have to-"

But then the words were spoken. Clear as water, with the resonance of the purest wind and the depth… the depth of conviction. Akihiko's eyes widened and stared at Misaki's knee.

"Did you hear me? I said-"

"I heard you," Akihiko rasped, still unmoving. A few more moments of laconism… Then Misaki hit Akihiko round the back of the head.

"Oi! Snap out of it! I've said it, okay?"

Akihiko blinked and it felt like time had been morphed into slow motion.

"Say it again?"

"What? Why! I've already said-"

"Now."

"I… I love you."

A farrago of emotion spiralled up and twisted and curved in Akihiko's mind.

The… The… _fulfillment_ of those three seconds had the man at gridlock. He wanted to memorise this moment as utterly as possible… he wanted to jar it and put it in a safe so no one else could get at it and taint it with their judgements…

This paragon of a placement in time…

Akihiko the author had no words. Akihiko was… speechless.

_No… this can't be real… too good…_

He swallowed, locked the moment up in his brain…

And dove away from Misaki.

"No, you don't," he sped. He was back by the door. "How can you? You're too young, too… too… how can you! Look what I've put you through!"

_What the hell are you doing!_ Akihiko's mind screeched at him. But Akihiko was scared shitless. This was completely unprecedented.

"You're not honestly disputing this?"

"Of course I am! It's ludicrous!"

"Are you just a complete and utter moron?" Misaki cried, surging to his feet.

"No, I've just realised how stu-"

"Don't you _dare_," Misaki seethed. "Don't you dare call this stupid. You have no idea how hard this has been to say."

"It doesn't matter! I-I…" It was a miracle Akihiko wasn't choking what with how fast he was speaking. "Why would you!"

"I'm not gonna pull the bait on your fishing, Akihiko. After what I've… we've gone through, how can it not be real? I was a fool, too young for a moment to realise it, but this is what it is!"

"I put you in place of a murder! A near car crash! Risked you going to school… put way too much responsi…" Akihiko's breaths accelerated, getting more violent and hurried. "Responsibility."

_Love… me? No. God. You can't love me. I'm repulsive!_

Akihiko began to pant, the air he brought in sticking in his throat. A sullen pain heaved around the base of his neck and throbbed in his forehead.

Misaki

Misaki flitted over to Akihiko and put his hands on either side of the man's face.

"Calm the fuck down, you weirdo! Come on, you're freaking me… Akihiko, come on… breathe!"

_Yelling isn't gonna help him, moron,_ Misaki thought. He took a deep breath through his nose, closed his eyes, then reopened them and peered deeply into Akihiko's anguished eyes. Akihiko looked back with hopeless tribulation and continued to hyperventilate.

_Shit, what do I do?_

"Why are you panicking like this?" Misaki asked, soothingly as he could but the turmoil inside of him nearly seeped out. It ached to see Akihiko like this- such a strong, solid tree falling.

"It doesn't make sense," Akihiko explained, shaking his head furiously. Misaki kept his grip.

"What doesn't?" Misaki implored.

"Loving… me… look what I've done, what I've put you through!"

For the first time in his life, Misaki spoke exactly what came into his mind without shunning it aside or rephrasing to shield his heart.

"And look how you saved me. I wouldn't have wanted to fall into any other arms. _You_ helped me. And I got such a gift from it."

_I'm gonna kill him for making me say this stuff._

"No… no…" Akihiko repeated, putting his hands over Misaki's. Misaki heated up with worry as Akihiko's temperature plummeted with unnatural haste.

"Look. Do you… do you love me?"

And then Akihiko just didn't breathe. He just stared at him, motionless. Then he nodded.

"I… I loved you the first moment I held you." A moment of reminiscence as both remembered how Misaki had fallen into Akihiko's arms after Akihiko had told him about Takahiro being in that car crash. Then, Akihiko elaborated on his reply. "Like the air I breathe."

"Then… Then that's all that counts, really… isn't it? Time or… or the awful things that have happened… they don't matter."

"No one…" Akihiko gulped. This was unknown territory; he never admitted everything so freely. His skin shivered, his freezing flesh begging for warmth… and Misaki was giving it right too him, though his own flesh. "They always leave, the ones who… who've loved me…"

_I'm gonna have to say it._

Misaki moved his hands and yanked both of Akihiko's ears, hard.

"Hey, feel these? USE THEM! And hear this…" Misaki looked over Akihiko's entire face before returning to his eyes, stroking his ears. "I'm not going anywhere until you push me out the door."

Two tears trickled down Akihiko's face and he looked away, ashamed. Misaki swallowed, took Akihiko's head and rested it down on his shoulder. They fitted, two pieces of a jigsaw.

_Help him_, were Misaki's instinctual thoughts. _Help him properly. Prove it._

He lifted Akihiko's head, searched his eyes again.

And kissed him.

Fireworks, stars flashing, heart racing, breath unimportant, lips crushing, caressing, sucking, you name it, it happened. Akihiko's hair ran between Misaki's slender fingers and he pulled the man closer and closer, desperate for this new brand of oxygen. Misaki's heart swelled so much that he thought Akihiko must have felt it in his own chest.

Then, stupid survival gripped hold of both of them.

Akihiko gasped a relieved breath and Misaki blushed, shaking. He put his hand on Akihiko's chest, right over his thumping heart.

"Keep me safe…" Misaki looked at his hand on Akihiko's chest. "Here…"

"You can live there as long as you want… hell, build a conservatory there for all I care," Akihiko laughed quietly, putting his hand over Misaki's.

Both of them stayed as close to each other as physically possible without actually being inside one another and it was because the both of them, no matter how alone they were in that house, wanted this entirely to themselves. Neither of them were used to being so intimate or having the chance to be and both knew this was going to be a very rare occurrence, at least when these feelings were openly reciprocated.

Their breath stroked the inch between them, Misaki inhaling as Akihiko exhaled… an almost subconscious promise that one of them would always have air to save the other, come emergency.

Misaki's hands gripped Akihiko's sleeves as Akihiko cupped Misaki's elbows in his own hands.

They were both unconditionally and finally

_Caught._


	22. Thrill

Hello! Sorry for the very late update, I was away on holiday and then had studying, so I've been a little caught up. I also apologise for the maybe annoying lack of Akihiko's POV in this chapter; this is because I wasn't really in Akihiko's psyche when I was writing this from 23:30 to one o'clock in the morning!

I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'm working on the next one right now.

Reviews are appreciated :)

* * *

Misaki

_Yes._

The dormant thoughts in Misaki's mind had awakened and with them a newfound maturity he doubted he would have ever come across if it weren't for the man sitting next to him now.

He felt like a whole new person.

Since both Misaki and Akihiko had admitted to each other their feelings for one another, a proud and chuffed air seemed to emanate from both of them.

The others in the room had noticed it when they had returned from their visit to some restaurant down the road but five minutes ago. In that time, Misaki had gone to the toilet and come back to find the others returned and Akihiko was sending him some very obvious signs of hunger for something more than food.

A nervous smile matched with a pair of blushed cheeks played anxiously on Misaki's face as he tried to concentrate on the conversation Clyde was trying to hold with him. But this was to no avail, for Clyde's interest in Misaki only further provoked Akihiko's inbuilt caveman mentality of 'he's-mine-so-if-you-don't-stop-oggling-him-I-will-whack-you-over-the-head-with-anything-at-my-disposal-very-very-very-hard'.

Clyde was blissfully unaware of Akihiko's bubbling emotions and this made Misaki feel even more anxious- somehow he was able to tune in to the motives and feelings of Akihiko without any words being spoken.

_I may love you, Old Man, but that doesn't mean I'm your bi-atch to do with what you will…_

After folding and unfolding his legs twice and sighing non-too-discreetly, Akihiko cracked.

He stood up and looked down at Misaki.

"Kaori, I think I need to show you something upstairs… I've suddenly remembered a passage in the manuscript we didn't edit."

"Um…" Misaki looked up at Akihiko, about to politely protest but Akihiko sent a thought to him, making Misaki feel telepathic.

The thought said: I will do to you here what I plan to do to you upstairs if you don't come with me now.

Misaki managed to keep his gulp as minimal as possible.

He stood, reluctantly, and walked out of the room, too ashamed to show his resigned face to the people he barely even knew.

"We'll be right back," Akihiko informed the room before he tailed Misaki.

"What are we doing?" Misaki mumbled through gritted teeth, his hands clenching and unclenching as he took each step with an increased sense of fear.

Akihiko came right up behind him, forcing Misaki to keep walking up as he whispered in his ear,

"Sealing the deal."

Misaki's head twitched reflexively to the left as a tremor ran through his spine, skin tingling down his neck and around his ear.

They reached the room.

Misaki stopped at the doorway, not crossing the threshold into the stark white room.

He knew what was going to happen. Needles of dread were spindling through his veins as a wild lust prepared his nerves with a warm zeal.

"Aren't you going to step inside?" Akihiko cooed. Misaki closed his eyes and swallowed.

The mere thought of having Akihiko- tall, strong, sexy and solid- behind him was making his insides quiver. He felt so inferior.

_Why didn't this part change when I admitted all to him? Why couldn't this have budged!_

"Aww," Akihiko murmured, condescendingly by Misaki's ear, "Shy, are we?"

"No." Misaki tried to sound fierce, but his voice came out shallow and quiet. Akihiko's hands- _so long and skilled_- smoothed down Misaki's arms and he felt the cold touch of Akihiko's nose trace down the curve of Misaki's neck. "Th-There's no manuscript, is there…?"

"Go in," Akihiko said simply, voice low.

Misaki could sense the ever so slight impatience in his tone and in an instinctual movement, stepped into the room.

In seconds, the door was closed behind them and Akihiko's entire body was pressed to the back of Misaki's, his lips caressing and kissing down the boy's neck.

The man's hands were travelling in unpredictable, soft patterns over Misaki's torso and it was with a soft sigh that Misaki felt his nipples harden; tender.

His teeth grazing gently up towards Misaki's ear, Akihiko breathed,

"Say it again."

Misaki hadn't realised he had been biting his lip until then and he forcefully parted his lips, only for one of Akihiko's hands to move up from his chest and to his face to stroke his wet lower lip.

"I want to feel you say it," Akihiko whispered and with that Misaki felt the man nudge into his behind subtly.

"Say wh-" The hand that had been on Misaki's chest moved to under his t-shirt, adding an icy contact to his skin that turned his mind blank with mesmerisation.

"_I love you_, Misaki. Say that."

_I don't think I can say it again. I don't think…I… have the strength. _

Misaki inhaled then exhaled with a quiet moan that he silently cursed himself for.

_I should be stronger than this! Come on! Just say it!_

"I…" _But hold on, why should I say it just because he asked me to? I have my own mind, I can control what I do! He doesn't control m-_

"Ah!" Without warning, Akihiko bit Misaki's right ear and pinched his left nipple, hard. This caused an instantaneous interest from his lower regions causing Misaki to clench his hands and eyes tightly.

"The punishments will increase if you don't just say it," Akihiko explained, the sly, smug smile coating his words. He began to rub Misaki's nipple between his index finger and thumb, chin resting on his shoulder so he could watch every emotion impact on Misaki's face.

"You don't control me," Misaki breathed, raggedly, a familiar, smouldering sensation forming in his stomach. He could feel Akihiko's arousal on his lower back.

"Hmm… I'm not sure I like your defiance, boy."

"I'm not a boy!" Misaki cried.

"We should check the evidence…" Akihiko's hand shifted to Misaki's erection and Misaki shivered, involuntarily.

"UuhUhUH!"

_Oh God._

Akihiko's fondling was so light that Misaki was almost unable to detect it, but it was due to the subtlety that Misaki felt like he might collapse to the floor any minute. Time seemed to stop in its tracks whenever Akihiko got ahold of Misaki like this, which made him feel both relaxed and wound up.

"We can't do this here," Misaki sighed as Akihiko turned their bodies towards the wall.

In between kisses to Misaki's neck and shoulders, Akihiko replied.

"You have no choice in the matter."

"How does that work!" Misaki argued, though his arms did rest on the wall in front of him above his head submissively.

"When it comes to this kind of situation, I'm in control."

Misaki gritted his teeth and glared at the white paint. It was true and he wasn't going to argue when he knew it would just land him in bigger turmoil.

"Ahh," Akihiko smiled as he ran both his hands up Misaki's sides, slipping his t-shirt off. The freezing thrill of Akihiko's hands made Misaki gasp and arch his back down, inadvertently pushing his behind into Akihiko. "You're learning."

Misaki's eyebrows knitted together as memories of the night he and Akihiko had had on the sofa oscillated through his mind. He was trying to breathe as calmly as he could… but the torture kept him shaking in time with his fluttering heart.

He opened his eyes as he felt Akihiko's hands leave his body and did his best not to look around when he heard the sounds of Akihiko's undoing the buttons on his shirt.

He was starting to feel cold without his t-shirt but more so without Akihiko's body right up against him.

His shoulder-blade jutted out as he suddenly felt Akihiko's lips press against his coccyx and he turned his head slightly to see Akihiko shirtless and on his knees. Their eyes met and Misaki turned his head away, hurriedly, the sight of Akihiko's lithe, muscled torso blurring his vision.

Part of him felt embarrassed beyond belief whilst the other felt luckier than any person on Earth.

Akihiko kissed the same place again.

Misaki's breathing halted before he turned his head slightly again, unable to stop himself from observing Akihiko's ashenly pale but beautifully toned body. The shadows of his muscle gave him an almost ethereal appearance.

He allowed his eyelids to fall, his breathing slower but heavier now as Akihiko's hands rested on his hips before they skimmed around Misaki's waist, making his stomach swoop.

An indescribable feeling washed over Misaki as Akihiko kissed up Misaki's bare back, simultaneously unzipping and pulling down Misaki's trousers and boxers.

_We're gonna do this. We're actually gonna do this. This is going to be my second time having sex…_

A question popped annoyingly into Misaki's head just then.

"Should we be doing this after… after all that's happened?"

Akihiko didn't even pause, his hands holding Misaki's upper chest as his feet pushed off Misaki's socks with surprising skill.

"What happened brought us closer together. Aside from that, we love each other. More importantly, I love you, which means we are always entitled, obliged and allowed to do these things to one another. I'm not going to let some psycho git get in the way of us; are you?"

Completely naked now, Misaki answered Akihiko's question with another of his own.

"How's your eye?"

"Soothed by the vision of you." Something inside Misaki wriggled happily at that.

"Don't say stuff like-"

"I'll say whatever I like."

This stumped Misaki, momentarily.

"You can be really annoying sometimes, you know that?" He muttered, looking down at his bare feet.

"I do know. But it's so fun to watch your reactions I don't bother to stop it."

Misaki felt his entire face flush red as one of Akihiko's hands held onto his hard-on. The man kissed Misaki's shoulder affectionately before he changed the subject back to his priority.

"Did it hurt last time I was in you?"

The question was asked so simply and bluntly that Misaki felt the secure need to answer in like.

"Insignificantly." Misaki's eyes were now wide at the prospect.


	23. Wings

Hey, well here's the next chapter. I finished the last one like I did because I have to work on my suspense writing, so that was practise. I apologise for any annoyance this caused... hopefully, this chapter will make up for it ^.^!

Reviews are heartily encouraged, so please... get typing! Thank you for reading =D!

* * *

Akihiko

_He's so fragile, so small against me. But nothing like Tasaki… no, Misaki is oh so tenderly tiny… hah… I should use that in a BL._

Akihiko's hand on Misaki's naked chest gave Akihiko the feeling he was catching the boy's thudding heartbeats. He could feel the boy's nerves jittering on his skin and his own breathing turned irregular as Misaki's responses to Akihiko's reactions elicited continuous, restrained moans and minuscule trembles from unexpected areas of the boy's body.

He wrapped his other arm around Misaki's waist and pulled his hips inward to his, smiling and closing his eyes as the warm contact between the two essential parts of their bodies sent blood rushing erratically through his arousal.

"I love you, Misaki."

Misaki

Misaki heard Akihiko speak and his knees turned weak; every time Akihiko said those four words, Misaki felt like it was the first time Akihiko was revealing it to him.

He felt extraordinarily vulnerable standing there, arms pressed against the wall and hands held tightly together above him head. Naked. His whole body tensed the second Akihiko moved his hands anywhere and the breaths Akihiko lay down on Misaki's neck and back made him arch his neck forward.

A surprising section of him wanted Akihiko to hurry up. Each slow caress was pleasurable to say the least, but now he knew what the climax felt like with Akihiko, he wanted it now more than he felt he had wanted anything else before.

He heard the muted sound of Akihiko's trousers crumpling to the floor and held his breath, time stopping completely, Akihiko's arm coiling much tighter around his waist.

_His tongue moving up my neck…Ah… God, that feels so good._

Akihiko's other hand was stroking Misaki's butt-cheek, his tongue moving slower and slower up Misaki's neck…

_Now behind my ear…_

"Ohhhh…"

"You still haven't said it, Misaki," Akihiko taunted, squeezing Misaki's ass.

"You haven't-" Misaki gasped over a hill of joy- "Given me the…Chance."

"Say it," Akihiko whispered, tantalising the nerves of Misaki's ear with the cool brushes of his words. "Say it now."

"I-I lo-" Misaki felt the tip of Akihiko prod his entrance delicately and his strength crumbled, his desperation for the man to be inside of him too overbearing to accumulate words.

Akihiko's heavy breaths beat down on Misaki's shoulder like the moving wings of a bird, his body inching nearer and nearer to Misaki. He felt Akihiko's head incline to sit in the curve of Misaki's neck and he yelped a little from Akihiko's unexpected hardness now pushing into him.

"Deep breaths, Misaki," Akihiko soothed, his words humming wonderfully on Misaki's skin.

Misaki swallowed and tried to keep himself on Earth; he felt like he was lifting off the world, getting lighter and lighter. He took a deep, shaky breath, relieved as Akihiko squeezed his arm around Misaki's waist tighter and placed his other hand over Misaki's.

Akihiko

Akihiko just kept sliding deeper and deeper into Misaki, trying to stay slow. But it was difficult.

Misaki was just so tight, embracing around his erection like a hot, clenched hand. He needed Misaki to relax, otherwise he would end up hurting the boy as he went further in. So, he began to gently stroke the top of Misaki's hand with his thumb and kiss the boy's shoulder with quiet and graceful skill.

Misaki

Misaki found himself calming without the loss of his sexual excitement- Akihiko was everything he needed: a narcotic-cum-aphrodisiac. His shoulders and the muscles of the back of his body turned lax just as Akihiko's first thrust hit him. He hissed in through his teeth as the rough feeling smoothed to a motion akin to rubbing something soft between your fingers.

Akihiko let his head fall back as the pulsing of his body and Misaki's synchronised and he curled his fingers in on Misaki's stomach, scratching the tense muscle there in pleasured frustration.

"Aaaaah…" Misaki's voice was low with suppressed ecstasy. He was trying so goddamn hard to grasp some form of reality, something to bring him back down to the mundane-ness he was accustomed to; he didn't deserve this kind of happiness. But Akihiko just kept moving through him, touching every part of him with an appraisal of strokes and teases that sent him further and further up.

_Up into…God, I don't know. Something more than Earth._

Akihiko

Akihiko leaned his entire body forward to rest on Misaki, feeling whole and more in tune with his soul than he had ever been. Now _his_ body was trembling and in gratefulness to the gods and gratefulness to Misaki for making him feel so right, he bit the boy's shoulder nimbly, licking the pinched flesh in an abstract show of love; like he was forcing his love through the pores of Misaki's skin.

He quickened his pace, inevitably smug in the way he had control over Misaki's heartbeat.

"Faster," Misaki whispered, suddenly.

"Hah," Akihiko breathed and did as he was told. "Sa…Say i-"

"I love you, Akihiko," Misaki interrupted, turning his head to look straight into Akihiko's melting lavender eyes.

Akihiko stopped his movement, closed his eyes… then nodded to himself and pushed harder and faster into Misaki, savouring the sound of Misaki's voice in his mind as he brought Misaki closer and closer to the pinnacle of satisfaction, closing his eyes tighter and tighter as he tried to concentrate on Misaki's pleasure instead of letting his body go to the moans escaping from the boy's throat.

He ran his hand down from Misaki's clenched fists and skimmed his fingers through Misaki's hot, sweaty hair, bringing Misaki's head back so the sides of their faces touched- hot and cold-, Misaki constricting around Akihiko harder and harder, tighter and tighter.

Akihiko dug his nails into Misaki's stomach, moaning at the same time as Misaki as they both began to climb towards the peak.

Akihiko kept pushing faster and faster, getting wetter and wetter from their conjoined sweat making Misaki's insides more sensitive by the milli-second.

Misaki

_Throbbing, Throbbing…_

Akihiko's abs were grazing Misaki's lower back and this reminder of Akihiko's strength, paired with the intensity of his cobra grip around him, turned Misaki on to no end.

Akihiko kept his arm around Misaki's waist but moved his hand just a little in order to feel Misaki's hard cock and rub the seeping, sensitive tip.

"Oh, _God_, Misaki," Akihiko groaned. Misaki had begun to grind down, hard, on Akihiko in an effort to give Akihiko half, at the very least, the pleasure he was giving him. Akihiko smirked, breathing quickly through his lips as a cool air made his damp face cool down slightly. "Do I really turn you on that much?" He had to ask. Akihiko felt rather than saw Misaki's blush.

"Yes," he whispered. Then, mind now on the quickly increasing pleasure, he repeated himself again and again. "Yes, yes… oh, God, nnnn…" _No, too soon… I want this to go on forever. _

Akihiko

"Uh," Akihiko grunted then said Misaki's name over and over and over again, speeding them both to an overwhelming, ecstatic bliss. In an act of pure, animalistic pleasure, he yanked Misaki's ear back with his teeth, thus prolonging Misaki's tortured moan.

Akihiko groaned deeply in his throat, teeth still biting down on the boy, feeling Misaki release over his hand as he did the same inside Misaki with an unbelievable intensity. He remained inside Misaki as they caught their breath, Misaki collapsing back onto Akihiko and Akihiko holding onto him for dear sanity.

_Pleasure knew no bounds when Love was playing the game._


	24. Canon

Okay, so... here's the next chapter... hope you like! Hope you review! Thank you for reading =D

* * *

Clyde

"So, he's an author then, is he?" Clyde asked the room. Molly looked up immediately, her bronze hair shimmering over her shoulders.

"He does have the intensity of one, certainly," she remarked.

"He's a teacher as well," Alan informed them, rubbing his eyes and leaning back into the sofa. "Very talented, very intense, yes, Molly… quite troubled."

"Oh?" Clyde pressed.

"From how I hear it, his mother abandoned him with his father and older brother when he was very young. He led a very lonely childhood, what with his father practically always away on business trips. Plus, he and his brother aren't exactly… amicable."

"And how do you know all this, then, Ted?" Clyde teased.

"Everyone knows. Spread across the papers at least once a year. All the girls love him. All the guys aspire to be him. He's an idol of the media world, from what I can see."

"Then what would that Kaori be doing with him? He's his editor, are we supposed to believe?"

"Don't be naïve, Clyde. They're together," Molly said, a slight touch of resentment in her voice. She was rubbing the corner of the wooden table in front of her like it was about to reveal some magic code to Akihiko's heart.

"I thought as much…" Clyde muttered.

"There's more to it, as well," Ted continued. The other three heads turned to him. "There was, I do believe… a sister."

"What, like, a secret one?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, where is she now?"

"No one really knows for sure. Some say she left with the mother, but photographs of early life in the Usami household say differently."

"Wooh…"

"The adventure of his life is evident on his face, though- did you see the scratches over his eye?" Molly asked.

"How could you miss them!" Ted remarked.

A pause, as a sound like a moan echoed distantly in the house.

"Doors in this place need a good oiling," Alan excused. "Is anyone else still hungry?"

"I could eat some more," Molly replied. Ted nodded too and Alan made to stand up, but Clyde stopped him.

"I'll get them, you've had more to drink… probably end up spilling it."

Alan smiled and nodded. Clyde left the room.

He was usually a very good-natured guy, without a single vindictive streak in him. But Kaori had woken up something inside of him.

_Why would he be with that Akihiko guy? He's like ten years older than him! He's so cute… so small… but…I like that._

He went to the kitchen and got three bowls from the cupboard, the went to the stove and began to pour the casserole into each one.

_What with those scratches on his eye, I'd say Usami is practically dangerous for Kaori! And Kaori looked so nervous…_

"Oh my God! Tasaki Ono has just committed suicide!" Molly cried from the other room.

Clyde raised his eyebrows s he got some milk from the fridge and poured himself a glass.

_Tasaki Ono… wasn't he a journalist of some sort? Well-known, from what I can gather… Hm. What a shame._

He left his glass in the kitchen and balanced the three bowls on his arm, going back to the living room.

"Ah, thanks, Clyde," Molly, Ted and Alan said in canon.

"I heard you say something about Tasaki Ono?"

"Yeah, apparently he just committed suicide- look!" Molly brought Clyde's attention to the muted wide-screen TV by the potted plant at the other end of the room. Molly unmuted it.

"If anyone knows anything about this suicide or, indeed, the whereabouts of Lord Usami Akihiko, please call the number below."

Molly muted the television again as the newsreader went on to some dull story about a hamster with two brains.

"Akihiko! Why would they want him!" Clyde cried. Another distant moan- supposedly a creaking door- danced through the house after Clyde had spoken, but this time it went unnoticed.

"He committed suicide in the guy's condo," Ted explained, slurping from his bowl.

"Man alive…" Clyde muttered.

_And now they're here… God… I should probably tell him… the scratches… hold on…_

"Not anymore!" Alan laughed and the others allowed themselves a small chuckle at that.

"Shouldn't we tell Akihiko?" Clyde asked. Alan cleared his throat.

"When he comes down."

Clyde nodded slowly and then went back to the kitchen to get his milk. He drank the lot and then emptied the plastic container into his glass.

_Something's not right._ _Hmm… oh stop it, you're over-analysing. Just because you're attracted to that Kaori guy… it's nothing!_

Clyde downed the rest of his milk and put his glass in the dishwasher, grabbing the empty container as he stood back up and walked outside to the recycling.

As he got to the recycling bins at the front of the house, a movement behind him caught his eye.

He should have turned away when he'd seen… should've put the milk container in the recycling and left.

But he didn't.

Instead, he dropped the milk container to the gravel-covered ground, reached into his pocket, took out his mobile phone…

And took a photo of Kaori's naked body draped over Akihiko's, their orgasm-etched faces clear to see through the wall-sized windows.

How long could that last…?


	25. BedHead

Hey guys! Next chapter is here... good times... only, I really should have been doing work... but still... AT LEAST THE NEXT CHAPTER IS HERE *SMILES MANICALLY*...

*Clears throat* The song 'Don't Forget Me- Red Hot Chili Peppers' highly influenced the last chapter and some of this one. Please listen to it on YouTube if you have not... try and click on the video with the album cover as the image... =D

Happy reading! Please review... =D

* * *

Misaki

_Nothing else matters… Nothing else actually matters at all… Wow… What a… feeling…_

Elation skimming through their deep breaths, both Misaki and Akihiko were thoroughly worn out.

Every breath Misaki took felt soaked with bliss to such an extent that he couldn't help but smile, even though he was trying very hard not to. Akihiko's rock-solid body was holding him so close that he felt weak with the pleasure it brought him to know that Akihiko had him…

_To be so near to him… God, there's nothing else I need. Ever._

It was with a tremor that Misaki began to feel Akihiko's mouth move over his shoulder again and he let out a low, quiet moan and rested his head back on Akihiko's shoulder; his body was totally and utterly under Akihiko's control.

More than that, Akihiko had successfully captured Misaki's soul.

Misaki's arms dropped, limp, from the wall and Akihiko wrapped them around Misaki's body, covering them with his own and for seconds they stood there, breathing in one another and praying the moment could last as long as it possibly could.

"You need to lie down," Akihiko muttered, practically carrying Misaki over to the bed.

Misaki flopped down, barely alert enough to initiate a conflict over what he did and didn't need. His eyes opened as he felt his body shiver happily under a fresh duvet and his sight caught on Akihiko.

They stared at one another for a long while, Misaki unable to take his eyes off the physique that had him in an emotional overload. He wasn't godly… no… too many shadows around those muscles to be anything ambrosial. But there was no denying Akihiko had an undeniable God complex.

There was something so dark and hurt about Akihiko that made Misaki's heart pang with worry and concern. He wasn't about to ask Akihiko about his back-life, but he wanted to know… wanted to know what kept those grey crescents beneath those intense eyes overwrought with emotion.

_Hell, even his… you know… is attractive… OH MY BLOODY GOD I DID NOT JUST THINK THAT. AAARRGH. _

Akihiko

Akihiko cocked his head to the side and smiled serenely, enjoying watching the cinema of Misaki's face; so many expressions in such a small amount of time.

"I love you."

Misaki gulped and looked away, struck by his honeyed voice. He felt so ashamed that he couldn't instantly reply. But the sheer weight of the truth behind those three words made the air trap in his throat and his mind go stony blank.

Akihiko leaned down and then stretched over the blankets over Misaki, with much the same fluidity of a cat. He put both of his hands in Misaki's hair and tried very hard not to comment on the fast reaction of Misaki's southerly mind. He put his forehead against the boy's and closed his eyes, cherishing the feel and smell of the one he truly did love.

He heard Misaki sigh and opened his eyes, surprised and satisfied to see Misaki had allowed himself to drift off to a much-needed nap. He studied the boy's face for minutes, following each line and curve and mesmerising the relaxation resting in his features.

Kissing Misaki between his eyes beforehand, he rose off him and stroked Misaki's hair out of his face, taking a deep breath and smiling and small smile.

Misaki

When Misaki awoke, he felt thoroughly refreshed and relaxed. His muscles weren't half as achy as they had been before; instead they felt well used and grateful for the skill of Lord Usami Akihiko.

_Where is he?_

He rubbed his eyes and remembered his nakedness before his got out of the bed. He gave a little gulp and sort of crawled over to his boxers, half expecting someone to walk in and find him. Pulling them on, he listened to the house, trying to hear Akihiko's voice.

_Might as well accept I just want to be around him_.

Just ad quickly as he had started to listen, he heard Akihiko through the wall. His serious voice- such an unbelievable turn on for Misaki and he partly hated that- was speaking low from, Misaki assumed, the room next door.

He pulled on his trousers and t-shirt, biting the inside of his lower lip a little as he recalled the sensation that had buzzed through him as Akihiko had slipped it off… the iciness… his lips… fingers…

_CONCENTRATE on the now!_

He walked out of the room and turned right down a dark, wooden-floored hallway… following the sound of Akihiko…

"Yes, well, both students are progressing very well and I highly doubt my absence for a week or two will provoke some hidden ignorance for their exams. Yes… Well, for Takahashi…" It was obvious now that Akihiko was talking on the phone. Misaki recognised the slightly reluctant note in his tone. He moved forward and saw Akihiko sitting at a table, holding the mobile phone between his shoulder and ear as he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. His eyes were closed. "As his guardian, _I _decide that. I'm choosing his allowed education-based absence from school… What for?"

_Oh damn… hmmm… what for… let's see… because I'm fucking his socks off? No… please, God, don't say that._

"Life drawing… I don't want to reveal my location at the present moment, as I'm sure you'll understand considering the suicide that just took place at my home. Yes. Yes, this is my… Takahiro, Takahashi? America-"

"Usami Akihiko has to leave now due to an unfinished manuscript and an _important_ deadline. Thank you for your understanding."

Misaki gasped with shock as a red-haired woman flitted past him and snatched the phone from Akihiko's hand. She snapped the mobile shut and shot daggers at Akihiko.

"Ahh, Aikawa. Always there to save me." Akihiko exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Putting her slender hands on her hips- it was then that Misaki noticed her love of red: tight red, knee-length skirt and long red nails… red lipstick- the so-called Aikawa glared down at Akihiko.

"Suicide or not, your manuscript was due in this morning!"

"I had prior engagements."

Misaki remained where he was in the hallway, not even entirely sure Akihiko or this Aikawa lady knew he was there.

"Oh? And what were these oh-so-important engagements?"

"Fucking my lover to within an inch of his life."

_God, he actually said it! I was being nonsensical, over-exaggerated… but that's actually how he is…_

"Hey!" Misaki cried, moving into the brightly lit room.

"Ahh, speak of the Devil," Akihiko purred. "I didn't know you were there."

"Don't lie, of course you did," Misaki spat.

"_This_ is your lover?"

"Y-"

"No!" Misaki cried.

"He's so cute!" Aikawa cooed, smiling brilliantly at Misaki.

_Oh, great. _

Misaki practically saw a 'FAN-GIRL' arrow striking down over Aikawa's head.

"He is that," Akihiko agreed, smug.

"You have to fit that bed-head into one of your BL novels at some point," Aikawa remarked, admiring Misaki's hair.

_Bed-head? Bed-head... I can definitely blame that one on Akihiko._


	26. Just So

I know. Seriously long time since I updated. But I'm on the game now! I promise to do my best =D

* * *

Misaki

Misaki was... confused.

In the past couple of days he had just about witnessed a murder, been practically kidnapped, been seduced by an obsessive, testosterone-fueled author/teacher/Lord- _so that's sensei on all parts_, Misaki glared at himself in his own head- and now he was back in the car and traveling back to Tokyo from... God knows where.

The emerald paddy fields skimmed past his vision in one sparkling blur as he watched the sun begin to set, turning to liquid light on the burning horizon.

Akihiko and Aikawa- who turned out to be 'pretty okay' once she stopped squealing- were sitting in the front, Aikawa lecturing Akihiko on his next novel as he drove. Misaki had been more than happy to sit in the back, though the glare Akihiko had given him had made him feel more scared than he believed he should be with someone who was supposed to be- yes, he'd accepted it- his lover.

It had all happened pretty quickly... not merely the past two hours (in which, Aikawa had arrived and scooped Akihiko and he back to Tokyo with the assurance that Aikawa would protect them from all possible publicity danger). Misaki meeting Akihiko. Misaki falling in love with Akihiko.

He really did hate to admit it... but it was true. He loved him. Time had proven itself regardless in respect of Love.

Akihiko

Akihiko was relieved at leaving Alan's. The atmosphere in that house had suddenly turned sour just before Aikawa had arrived. Besides, he was getting a craving to write, a craving which, surprisingly enough, had been demoted since Misaki's entrance into his life.

Life and love before the kid seemed pretty mundane now.

_Ahh, nothing like actually being in love with your bitch... Hey! Must not think like that... why not... he might like it..._ The array of voices manically fought for approval in Akihiko's head as he furrowed his eyebrows and pretended to be listening to the red-haired lady practically bouncing on the seat next to him.

"And then... Oh, God, yes!" she cried. Akihiko caught a glance of a bewildered Misaki in the rear-view mirror at the akin-to-orgasm shriek. "She dumps him so he doesn't have to dump her and he goes back to Misaki and they make sweet, unending love into the-"

"Bastard!"

Aikawa paused mid-enthusiastic-gesticulation and looked at Misaki, as Akihiko silently smirked to himself.

"Into the bastard? My... I didn't think you'd be the type to like it so rough, Misaki-kun," Aikawa remarked, eyes still wide but an eager smile playing on her red-lipsticked lips.

"WH-!" Misaki's face went fuchsia with embarrassment before he sent daggers at Akihiko. "You're using my name in your BL novels?"

_Why shouldn't I? Surely you know you're my inspiration..._

"Yes."

"But...But..."

"It's just a name... the character doesn-"

"Yeah! And he looks just like you too!" Aikawa beamed, obliviously speaking over Akihiko's save. Akihiko leaned back into his seat, taking one hand off the steering wheel to get a cigarette from the compartment under it, and sighed. He didn't even have to look at Misaki to know that he was boiling over like tomato soup on the hob.

The drive back to Tokyo took about two hours after that. Misaki fell asleep at some point along the way and at a set of traffic lights, Akihiko sneaked a peek at him.

_So... there are no words. He's just... so. Just so. I can't take him back to that condo... not with everything that's happened. He deserves more. Hell, I don't even want to go back there much. But he needs some calm now. Hmm._

"Aikawa- wait in the car, will you?" Akihiko asked, getting out of the car as he did so. He took out his mobile phone from the inside pocket of his waistcoat and lit another cigarette.

Misaki

Misaki's eyes jarred open a little as he heard the car door click shut. His left eye opened more than his right, seeing as the right side of his face was squashed up against the car window. He averted his eyes to see Aikawa in the front passenger seat, the side of her face aglow from the light of her mobile phone as she typed rapidly. He sensed more than saw that Akihiko wasn't in the car. His presence was absent...

He heard the muted, serious hum of the man's voice and looked up- the right side of his face going tingly and cold as he awoke- and saw that Akihiko was standing outside, lit cigarette in his mouth and a hand in his pocket. He was speaking quickly into his mobile phone.

Maybe it was that he was just beginning to wake up. Maybe it the pitch-black sky and the diamond-stars that squinted around that crescent moon that gave the effect... but there was something truly amazing about Akihiko in that moment.

Misaki got the instant feeling that Akihiko was doing something _for him_. Well. Recently it seemed as if it was always for him. Misaki wasn't too happy about that...

But there was a seriousness to Akihiko's facial expression and a tensity about his jaw...

_His determined look..._

Then, suddenly, a heart-melting smile and Akihiko was off the phone. Misaki watched as he ran a hand through his silver hair- _God... I want to do that..._- close his eyes and take a drag... _He is... attractive..._ And then looked straight down at Misaki.

Misaki jumped out of his skin with the intensity of the stare and ended up hitting his head on the car window as he pretended he hadn't been essentially drooling over him.

_I seem to be hitting my head a lot around Akihiko..._

He was sort of taken aback as he felt his sphincter tense, in an almost anticipating way, watching Akihiko's side-smirk out of the corner of his eye.

Akihiko

_Heh. Well, at least I know I fascinate him just a little bit._

"Right, Aikawa. Where do you want to be dropped off?" Akihiko was polite enough in his questioning as he slipped in the driver's seat and did up his safety-belt. But the tone of I'll-do-the-manuscript-as-long-as-you-let-me-and-my-love-muffin-be still prevailed.

"Err, the office is just round the corner."

"Ok. Misaki, do you mind if we swing past the condo?"

"Swing past? We live there, don't we?"

"Not anymore."

"Huh?"

"You're moving?" Aikawa asked.

"Yes. I'll see you soon, Aikawa."

The sportscar halted effortlessly outside the publishing house. Aikawa sent a knowing smile to both Akihiko and Misaki before she got out and waved heartily and sweetly at both of them. Akihiko didn't drive away until he saw that Aikawa had gotten safely into the building and then swerved from the curb and drove, just missing the stop lights.

"Why did you wait?" Misaki asked, pleased by it.

"There are weirdos around here at this time of night."

"So, where are we going?" Misaki asked, leaning forward and holding onto the back of Akihiko's seat for balance. "And would you slow down?"

"Firstly, it's a surprise. Secondly, I have very fast reflexes. You have nothing to worry about."

"It's not you I'm worried about... on the road. There are some serious idiots around."

"You're not worried about me? Hmm, I shall have to remedy this," Akihiko retorted smoothly as he turned a narrow corner.

"Please, don't," Misaki smiled, nervously, as the car rolled down the slope into the private garages.

Akihiko parked and before Misaki could take his seatbelt off, Akihiko turned round in his seat and gave him a short, deep kiss. Misaki's shoulders fell down from his ears before his whole body jerked as Akihiko bit him on his wet lower lip. A dangerous glint in Akihiko's eyes made Misaki gulp. Akihiko smiled and got out of the car, pulling the seat forward to let Misaki out as well.

Misaki

As they walked up to the condo, Misaki yawned, nearly walking into Akihiko.

"You must be tired," Akihiko murmured. "It's been a long day. Did I take it out of you?" he mocked, gently.

"No!" Misaki disputed as they got into the elevator. He rubbed his eyes, losing his center of gravity and leaning against Akihiko's shoulder. He was about to flinch off the man's body when he realised how comfortable he was there.

_Well... it's not like he's gonna push me off..._

Akihiko dipped down and kissed Misaki on top of his head. He had planned for a quick peck but the scent of Misaki's hair softly turned something on inside of him and he stroked Misaki's cheek, turning his body around and laying soft kisses over the boy's forehead and brushing his lips down his nose.

Misaki shivered. He was too tired to complain about Akihiko coming onto him, so instead he placed a hand on Akihiko's shoulder, near his neck.

"Not tonight," he yawned. Akihiko took one look at Misaki's drooping eyelids and smiled.

"I'll let you off the hook for tonight," he whispered, bringing Misaki's head to his chest with his arm and burying another kiss on top of his head as the elevator doors pinged open.

They both ambled to the condo.

"I can just collect your stuff if you want," Akihiko offered. Misaki liked the idea of not having to go inside- he could see the yellow tape over the door and the police guard outside it down the hallway- but then again, he didn't want to leave Akihiko to deal with whoever was inside.

"No, I'll go in too..." Misaki tried to conceal his small gulp.

They arrived at the door and Misaki was just beginning to smile to himself as he watched Akihiko begin to turn his celebrity-status-charm on...

When a furious cry resounded in the hallway.

"Akihiko! _This_ is what you call looking after my little brother?"

* * *

Review please : )


End file.
